Guest: It's possible you've read this story before! I used to have 8 chapters of this fic up over a year ago, but then life started giving me lemons, so I took it down so that writing this story wouldn't cause me more stress. But now I am back to business :P

Here's chapter 4! I hope you all like it!

Hiccup couldn't say the fighting practice went well at all. The knights had noticed that the prince wasn't in his best shape so they had toned their own performance down, but Hiccup was still struggling greatly. When he managed to block an attack from the front, he didn't have time to react to the attack from behind and he would have been dead approximately 50 times if he had been in an actual combat. He was tired; Hiccup felt like someone had given him sleeping drugs that didn't make him fall asleep but rather made him feel like he was constantly on the edge of doing so. His legs and hands weren't co-operating with his brain and every command that was sent from his head down to his body came with a 5-second delay. He hated every single decision he had made the previous night.

"I think that's enough for today," he said breathlessly. He was all sweaty and it wouldn't be long until he would start stinking, so he made himself a mental note to have a bath when there was enough time for that. The thought of attending the dinner with his father while smelling like dung made him flinch a little. He was so exhausted that he would gladly skip flying with Toothless today.

"As you wish, Your Highness," one of the knights responded and Hiccup could hear a few others mutter something in a tone that sounded like an agreement. The prince dropped his sword to the ground and stretched the muscles on his back.

"Are you feeling all right, Sir?" another knight asked. "The king mentioned that you were feeling ill last night."

Hiccup stopped stretching and looked at the knight with a puzzled expression for a moment. Then it hit him – Fishlegs. "Yeah, I'm fine now. Just a bit tired, I barely slept last night."

The knight just nodded, bowed down to him and left the training grounds along with the other knights. Hiccup was left alone on the tamped field, and for a short while his brain didn't seem to work and he just stood there. This was one of the many days that were here to remind him that late nights and early mornings clearly just didn't fit in the same sentence. Hiccup yawned and his brain finally managed to find some willpower to make his legs move. He really needed that bath to wake up.

The war was going to officially start tomorrow. They had enough horses and supplies for those that would be coming from the mountains and everything was ready for what lied ahead. On dragons, the journey would only take half a day, so those that were to ride one wouldn't have to leave until after two days' time.

Hiccup yawned again. Thank Thor the war didn't start today, he thought to himself.

As he walked, he observed the servants that were carrying heavy-looking wooden baskets somewhere. They all were heading in the same direction while talking to each other in hushed voices, some looking a bit worried, some wearing a neutral expression. From the looks of those baskets, Hiccup could only assume they were preparing the supplies for what was coming tomorrow. The Prince never had to worry about the preparation part – once a war was declared, it was the knights' responsibility to ensure that the servants would take care of the supplies. The only responsibilities that were left for Hiccup were extra fighting practices and not injuring himself before they were to leave for the battle.

It was only times like this when Hiccup realised how many servants they really had. Most of them worked where the prince never set his foot in willingly, such as the royal kitchen, so it was rare for him to see them around.

He snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Fishlegs shout his name and he turned around to see his friend walk towards him whilst carrying a basket loaded with his clothes. "How was the practice?" he asked once he was close enough so he didn't have to shout.

"Could have gone better," Hiccup said gloomily, not liking this topic for a conversation at all. The people around them were too busy doing their own things that neither felt the need to act like they weren't friends.

"That's what you always say, so I'm sure it went splendidly," Fishlegs said happily and stopped in front of the prince.

"No, in all seriousness, it was a disaster. But please, let's not talk about it. How was your time with the laundry?" He started walking forward and he heard his friend follow him. There wasn't an immediate response from him which made Hiccup look over his shoulder, and he noticed that Fishlegs seemed to feel a bit uneasy at that question. The look on his face made the prince chuckle and smile. "What was so terrifying back there? Did the old lady give you hard time or what?"

"What? No, she did not. It's just… I heard people talk."

Now the prince turned around completely so that he was walking backwards and smiled at Fishlegs, looking amused. "So you've finally figured out why we have these holes on both sides of our head?" was his response and although he tried to make it sound like a casual question, there was too much mocking in his voice to succeed in that. There was no change in Fishleg's concerned face, so Hiccup figured it was something important and he turned grave as well. "Do tell."

"I will tell you once we are in the castle. Not wise to talk about it here when anyone can hear us."

The prince just nodded and apart from some greetings Hiccup had to give to some people they passed by, they walked to the castle in complete silence. He really wondered what was making Fishlegs this anxious. After what felt like ages, they finally were in the safety of the castle's stone walls and once they were in one of the least used corridors that led to the guest chambers, Fishlegs spoke.

"The plan has somehow spread around the kingdom."

"What?!" Hiccup exclaimed, surprise written all over his features. "How has that happened? Is there a traitor amongst us?"

"I don't know, but that wasn't the point."

Hiccup studied Fishlegs' face for a moment, waiting for him to elaborate, but when the prince realised that wasn't going to happen, he spoke: "If you're going to tell me that they criticised our plan, you must remember that their opinions on these matters are irrelevant."

"But they're scared. They don't trust the plan; they think it will just bring another war on us."

Hiccup frowned and he could feel annoyance and anger bubbling up inside him. It wasn't usual that the people of Berk dared to criticise the decisions the king had made, and he didn't understand why their people would have any say on this matter since they didn't know anything about wars or fighting or blood shedding. He sighed heavily, and managing to keep his voice steady and clear of anger, he asked: "How did you hear about this? Did someone just walk up and pour their heart out to you?"

"Of course not," Fishlegs replied impatiently. "They know who I am, and they would never tell me anything because they know I would report back to you. I was eavesdropping. They fear you're going to take some of Briral's dragons and Briral will be on us because of that."

Hiccup sighed again. "You do know that they will be on us no matter what we do in the war. If we don't take our dragons, they will try to snatch the rest of them from us in their next attack. If we take our dragons, they will attack us just for the fun of it. Neither Berk nor Briral will stop until the other surrenders and you know that very well."

Fishlegs let out a grunt in frustration and he dropped the laundry basket to his feet. The prince stared at it for a brief moment before he shifted his gaze back on his friend, looking at him questioningly. Hiccup couldn't read the expression on Fishlegs' face, but he could see that his friend wasn't happy at all. "So why are you suddenly against all of this? Yesterday you were all about supporting this plan and you told me it was a good one, or was all that talking just because for a second you had to treat me like a prince?" he asked. His voice came out much angrier than he had intended to, but he didn't attempt to correct his tone because anger was exactly what he felt. He knew this wasn't supposed to make him feel this way, but he didn't know how else to react. One can't just simply jump from an opinion to another like that, the only exception being Stoick who seemed to change his mind about whether his son would be a great king four times a week.

"I'm not against it, I'm just trying to look at this from your people's point of view. They have just settled down after the previous attack and they have repaired their homes, and now they know that in a matter of weeks it's all gone again. I live among them, and you can't even begin to comprehend how hard it is for them to rebuild when they haven't enough resources to do so."

"But there's nothing I can do to change things, Fishlegs," Hiccup responded tiredly and pinched the bridge of his nose. When he looked at Fishlegs, he saw a glimpse of sadness in his eyes.

"For years you've been telling me that you want things to change. You've told me that you are beginning to be tired of all that unnecessary grudge that there is between Berk and Briral. Has all that just been talking with no meaning behind it? I'm not saying that what Briral did is justified, but you could lead an example."

The prince didn't say anything to that for a while. He just stared at Fishlegs with a blank expression that reflected the emotions inside him. He hated how much sense there was to his friend's words when it felt like that nothing would make any difference. Of course, he wanted his people to be safe and he was tired of looking at the village and the marketplace of Berk when it was partially destroyed. Nobody liked that view, but it was unavoidable; the chances of Briral not coming after them were close to zero. On top of that, it would – hopefully – take years before he was the king of Berk, so what he did now would be long forgotten when he eventually sat on that throne that his father owned.

Fishlegs' face had suddenly changed drastically; the sorrow and frustration were now replaced by a look of fear. The prince's silence had apparently made him believe that he had gone a step too far and said too much.

"Fishlegs," Hiccup finally said when he knew what to say to his friend. He tried to smile, but it felt fake and it didn't reach his eyes. "I appreciate your concerns, but there's a small problem to me 'leading an example'," he air-quoted with his fingers, "and that problem is called Stoick. As long as he is King, there's absolutely nothing I can do to change the future. We want our dragons back, and the only way to do that is continue the animosity between Berk and Briral. I don't yet know what kind of Berk I want to rule when my time comes, but I still have time to think about that. Before I figure that out, I don't want to set any examples that aren't true to what and who I am."

Neither of them said anything. The silence was almost deafening, and it gave Hiccup too much time to realise how sleep deprived he was and how this conversation was beginning to tire him.

"Listen, I will think about this and try to come up with a solution. Now, kindly take my clothes and take them somewhere else," he said breaking the silence, and gently kicked the wooden basket with his other foot. "Please," he added.

Fishlegs just sighed, bent down to take the prince's laundry and left him without saying a word. Hiccup was left staring at his friend's back, frowning. It was rare that he had any kind of an argument with Fishlegs, mostly because they never wanted to disagree with each other.

He did understand why his people would fear the upcoming war, and he had an idea that it wasn't easy to return to normal lives once everything you owned was turned to ashes. But war was what happened frequently around here, their people were aware of that, so he didn't understand how this time was suddenly any different. Maybe they always felt like this before a war and talked about it, but there had never been anybody from the castle to hear them until today? Hiccup couldn't tell for sure, but what he could tell was this day wasn't going well at all.

He then could feel the dried drops of sweat on his forehead and he started to feel dirty again. He really needed that damn bath before his mind could spare any rational thought for the promise he had just made to his friend. He followed Fishlegs' footsteps out of the isolated corridor and headed towards his room, his mind completely drawn to the bath that was awaiting him.

Later in the evening, it was time to meet the king for the first time that day. It had been a while since they had dined together even though Stoick always tried his best to squeeze in as many dinners with his son as possible. The bath had woken Hiccup up and he had spent the rest of the day considering his options as to what to do with the promise he had made. It turned out there was close to nothing he could do about it, but he would have to try; he felt like he owed something to Fishlegs after all the lies he had had to tell to cover his nocturnal sneak outs, and this felt like a good way to make that up for him. At least he could say that he tried.

The guards in front of the heavy wooden doors opened them once they noticed Hiccup heading towards the Throne Room. As they were opened, the prince was greeted by two knights that were dragging an old woman by the arms. The woman seemed to have lost all her will to live as she was refusing to use her own legs and it looked like the knights were carrying a dead body with them. Hiccup only knew she was alive because of the silent sobs the woman let out and the fact that Berk would never disrespect a dead person like that. The prince frowned at the sight but didn't say anything, he just kept walking forward and followed the trio with his gaze until they were out of sight.

"What was the meaning of that?" he asked his dad the moment the doors to the Throne Room were shut again.

"She is being carried to the cells as we speak. She will be executed tomorrow morning," the king answered as he sat back on his throne.

"Why? What did she do?"

"She is accused of practising magic."

Hiccup's eyebrows were close to touching his hairline. He allowed himself a short moment before he spoke, "Dad," he began, "magic doesn't exist." He had a small pause between every word to ensure he put enough emphasis on all of them.

Stoick just let out a loud bark of laughter at that. "That's what we thought about dragons a couple years ago, too! The world has changed, Hiccup, we must be prepared for anything."

"But you cannot execute an innocent woman just because you want to be prepared for something that has the most minimalistic chances of existing."

"Do you really think I sentenced her to death with a light heart?" the king asked with a questioning and deep voice. It sounded like a threat to Hiccup.

"Of course not, My Lord," Hiccup answered hastily. "I just wish you would reconsider her sentence. Death is very final."

"So is my decision," Stoick replied sharply, leaving no room for any kind of discussion on this matter. "When you are the king, you will understand, I assure you."

"Right," the prince replied bluntly, not being in the mood to disagree with his father even further. He was expecting his answer to be followed by an awkward silence that would usually happen when he and his dad didn't agree on something, but the king spoke immediately.

"Let us go to the Great Hall, the dinner's awaiting us there."

"Brilliant. What's on the menu?"

"I can't say for sure, I made my serving boy decide on that as I had more important matters on my mind."

Hiccup had an inkling that would be a good thing, so he just nodded slowly at his father. They exited the throne room together and didn't speak a single word on their way to the Great Hall. So there that awkward silence was, the prince had started to wonder where it had gone to. They entered the enormous hall and there was a massive table full of a bit of everything waiting for them. The good thing about Stoick's servant was that he always went a bit overboard with everything to ensure the king's satisfaction. At first they dined while having some short-lived conversations about boring topics like paper work and the prince's fighting practice, but when there finally was a short silence, Hiccup decided to act on his small plan.

"Dad," he said to catch Stoick's attention. "I would like to discuss the attack. I think I should be the one to go and set our dragons free."

They stared at each other. "But that is a suicide mission," Stoick finally said in disbelief, his fork hanging in mid-air. "You shouldn't treat your life so recklessly. Let the knights do it."

"I know that I am more important and valuable for Berk than our knights, but please, hear me out. I have Toothless, we can become invisible and no one will be expecting Prince of Berk and his Night Fury to go on this mission. They won't be looking for us. Besides, I know every single dragon Briral stole from us, I will be able to tell them apart from Briral's own so we won't take any of their dragons, which would give Briral fewer reasons to attack us."

Stoick looked at him silently. His complete silence gave Hiccup a tiny boost of hope. "I could take our best trained knight with me if that would ease your mind." That wasn't part of his initial plan, but he thought one knight wouldn't do much harm.

"Where is all of this suddenly coming from?" Stoick asked suspiciously. "Is this your way to try to prove yourself to me?"

Hiccup's was about to say 'no' until he thought the better of it and decided to go with a lie instead. He tried to keep his face as serious as he could when he spoke: "Yes, that's what I thought. I felt like I haven't convinced you enough and I'd want you to see what I am capable of, and this would prove my bravery and selflessness."

The king chuckled. "You have already proven yourself many times when it comes to bravery and selflessness. It is the view you have of the world that concerns me. Haven't I taught you that Briral seeks nothing but power and if there's not a real reason to strike, they will find one. 'Briral would have fewer reasons to attack us,' what is this nonsense? Do you seriously think like that?"

"Yes."

Stoick let out a loud grunt and dropped his fork on the plate, placing his hand on his forehead. "I thought I had raised you better than that," he mumbled but it was loud enough for Hiccup to hear it. After a while, he turned his gaze back to his son and spoke, much louder this time. "I obviously cannot let you do this, you're way too young for a mission like that. And you just made it clear to me that your mind has not matured enough to make big decisions like that."

"But–," Hiccup began but the king beat him to it.

"This decision is final. You are dismissed, I have more important things to worry about."

The prince knew it was better to just walk out, for stretching this topic any further would do no good. He couldn't deny that his father's words stung a bit and they kept echoing in the back of his mind as he silently stood up and left the Great Hall although he hadn't finished his meal. On his way out, he spared a thought for the lady that was now in the cold cells and he felt utterly sorry for her.

He tried to tell himself that what Stoick had said wasn't true because Hiccup would have never suggested anything like that if he hadn't made that promise to Fishlegs. Not that he thought he couldn't do it, he knew that with Toothless pretty much anything was possible, but he knew how crazy the idea of going there alone was. Yet the conversation with the king made him feel like that was exactly what he had to do to convince his father that one day his son would be as great as him.

As Hiccup entered his room that was always guarded by two guards, he was greeted by Fishlegs' voice. He hadn't expected him to be here, so his heart skipped a few beats at the sudden sound. "How did it go?"

"Oh Thor, Fishlegs, why are you here?" Hiccup asked in a slightly high-pitched voice as the guards shut the door behind him. Hearing himself sound so weird, he coughed as if it would return his voice back to how it was supposed to be. "You're done for today, shouldn't you be heading home?"

"Yes, but I wouldn't have anything to do anyway so I thought I'd wait for you to return."

Hiccup shook his head, amused. "I swear you're obsessed with this castle."

"It's much better than the rickety hut I live in. Not that it's bad either, I never mean to complain," he said hastily but Hiccup raised his other hand in the air to silence him.

"Honestly, I don't care if you complain. We're friends, okay?"

Fishlegs mumbled something in response but the prince couldn't make out what he said. As Fishlegs got no response from him, he switched back to the original topic. "So, how was the dinner with the king?"

"A disaster to say the least." Hiccup managed to make it sound like he was telling the news about him having been forced to give up his throne. "And he has now started to accuse people of sorcery. What in the name of Thor has made him believe magic exists? And I am positive I will never figure out what I have to do to make my father permanently pleased with me. One day I make him proud but the very next he looks at me like something has gone terribly wrong with my entire being."

Fishlegs didn't say anything and Hiccup understood why; words of encouragement had never been his strongest point either. And Hiccup wasn't even looking for those because no words could make him feel any better. The truth was his father was an unsolved mystery to him, and he was an unsolved mystery to his father. There was never going to be harmony between them. The prince let out a deep sigh of defeat.

"He didn't warm up to my idea," he finally said. "He said that I made it clear to him that I am not mature enough to make big decisions."

"I'm sorry to hear that, I guess. I don't know what I should say here. It's my fault you even suggested it."

"It's not," Hiccup said firmly. "And it doesn't matter anymore because I already made up my mind and I will be the one to go and release the dragons."

Fishlegs raised his other eyebrow and stared at the prince for a second. "And how are you going to do that? You will have to stay by the king's side, leaving on the battlefield isn't as easy as sneaking out at night to ride on your dragon."

"I know, I haven't figured that part out yet, for I just made that decision a minute ago. I will probably just improvise as I go."

A part of him was doing it to try to make their people's lives a bit better, another part wanted to do it because he wanted to prove himself to his father. He wanted to show him what he was capable of, even if the king didn't approve of the way he was going to do that.