Now this is a story all about how my upload schedule got flipped turned upside down, I'd like to take a minute to just sit right there I'll tell you why I disappeared for 3 GODDAMN MONTHS. Sorry guys life got in the way, but its a big chapter so yay!

Hey guys thanks for all the support, so far this story has had 5 reviews, 17 favorites and 26 follows, I am so proud of the progress my story has made and YOU the readers made it possible. BTW there will be gore(or slight gore) in this chapter, in fact there will be for almost all of the fight scenes in the rest of the story.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Chapter Three: A Disturbed Past

It was early morning, the sun was just beginning its ascent over the horizon and the sky was a vibrant mix of blue, purple and orange. Hiccup and Toothless were still asleep, gods knew they needed it, the past few months had been tough to say the least. Khaine had them doing exercises, stretches and combat training every day since they left Berk, the first day he tried to get Toothless to train, the dragon simply sat in the shade and refused to do anything he said, Khaine ended up actually dragging Toothless out of the shade and passing the comment, 'Toothless would it really kill you to loose a few pounds?' Those words were enough to put him in his place, he knew it would not be wise to try and push his luck with Khaine.

Now Khaine would have to wake them up, he knew it had been tough on them with all the training, they would need it if they were to fulfill their destiny. Right now he had to talk to them, some strange things had begun to stir up in the nether world and he had been summoned to handle the situation, he would have to leave for awhile. The last time he left Hiccup alone he nearly died, about a month ago they found a pack of boars roaming the area, Hiccup was confident he could take them but Khaine said otherwise. Hiccup ended up sneaking off on his own, he was lucky he and Toothless found him when they did or he would have been skewered on the end of a boar tusk.

"Hiccup." No response. "Hiiiiiccuuuup." Still nothing, Toothless had woken up but Hiccup was still asleep.

*Khaine? why are we up so early, its barely sunrise, I want to go back to sleep*

Khaine was tapping the side of Hiccup's head which seemed to work.

"Uh wha- I- I'm up! I'm up! Oh hey Khaine, why are we awake so early?" Hiccup yawned halfway though his sentence.

"Listen, I have to leave for awhile, something is going on in Helheim that demands my full attention."

"Leave? For how long?"

"I don't know, a couple of days maybe, I'm not sure, just promise me you won't go looking for trouble."

"Fine I won't go looking for trouble."

" Good, Toothless you're in charge while I'm gone OK."

"Oh come on, why does he get to be in charge?"

"Because I said so, and because the last time you tried to handle a situation, you almost died and we had to bail you out."

"But that was just one time, please I promise nothing will go wrong." Hiccup was on his knees begging at this point, but it wasn't enough to persuade Khaine.

"Toothless is in charge, that's final. I will be back as soon as I can. Khaine disappeared into the familiar gapping hole between the realms which disappeared just as quickly after him.

*Looks like I'm in charge while Khaine is away.*

"Shut up Toothless." Hiccup mumbled under his breath, he had a feeling these next few days were going to be very long.

Helheim

As soon as Khaine stepped into the reality of the nether realm, he was greeted by a familiar face.

"Khaine, about time you showed up, what took you?" It was, Laurenza, another revenant although far less experienced than Khaine, she was an expert in ambush and assassination tactics using her small size, agility and speed to her every advantage. Her face was mostly human apart from the spines running from her crown to the ridge of her nose, her eyes were a seething red and hair was replaced by fire. Her armor was dull and worn but still capable with horns jutting out at almost every angle, her weapons were two long, serrated blades protruding from her wrists each at least two feet long and seemingly made of bone.

"I've been given the task of training the next champion of the mortal realm."

"Well good for you, while you were gone the rebels have declared war and are marching here as we speak. A battle plan has already been decided, you will be assisting in a frontal assault on the enemy force and I will lead a battalion of warriors from the side."

"And on whose orders have these plans been laid." Khaine was usually the one who organised attacks, who would be leading in his place?

"One of the horsemen will be aiding us in this fight, War."

"What's one of the horsemen doing outside of the Infernal Gates?"

"I don't know, this rebellion must be seen as a very dangerous threat if one of the Heralds of the Apocalypse is getting involved."

"So you were all just waiting for me? Couldn't War just have lead the siege and had it over with by now?"

"Apparently you are vital to this battle, why I don't know but War seems to think so."

"Well, shall we get this show on the road?"

"I though you'd never ask."

Midgard

It had been a day since Khaine left for his special mission, yesterday had been a bore fest, Hiccup wanted to go and do something fun but Toothless kept to Khaine's wishes and insisted they stay here. Hiccup even tried to make the excuse that they needed to go hunting for food but they had already stockpiled enough to last them several days.

Now Hiccup was pacing around a tree, Toothless was dozing in the shade, but the boredom was grating on him as well. Hiccup now started to bang his head repeatedly against the tree.

*Hiccup what are you doing?*

"Toothless aren't you bored of just sitting here doing nothing all day? Khaine's out on some awesome adventure and we're waiting here for him to come back." Hiccup was through with waiting, he could take the boredom anymore, he had to do something.

*You do have a valid point*

"Why don't we go do something Toothless, we can go fishing, do some stunts in the air and Khaine won't even know."

*Sounds better than sitting around doing nothing.*

Toothless bent down so his rider could mount the saddle and the two of them bolted into the sky. "YEAH!" They were both ecstatic to finally be off the ground and in the clouds, where they could be as one. "You know Toothless I've missed this, just you, me and the endless sky, no training for the end of days or destinies written in the stars, just us."

*Me too Hiccup, me too*

There was a moment of peaceful silence between the two, the serene happiness washed over them as if the world had stopped just so these two could savor the moment.

"Now how about some of those stunts, huh?"

*Oh yeah*

Berk

It had been a whole year since Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third had abandoned his tribe for reasons no one could determine. He had left his home more changed than he though, Astrid Hofferson, now the next dragon slaying protégé, was pushing herself more than ever to be the best.

After news spread of Hiccup leaving Berk, Astrid was devastated, when she went to the ring to apologize to Hiccup for her past wrong doings only to find out that Hiccup had left Berk, she ran back home and up to her room, bawling because of the guilt trip that could now not be lifted, only when the chief had come by to say that because of Hiccup's disappearing act that she would have to take his place in the ring was she willing to step out into public again. Despite a few minor injuries she killed the nightmare and took it's head as a trophy that now hung as ornament above her bed. Now she trained day and night, from dawn till dusk and sometimes longer, after her victory against the dragon she was allowed to fight in raids, reaping tallies of dragons that rivalled even those of Berks counsel, in the past year she had kill quite a handful of nadders, zippelbacks and gronckels, she even managed to kill another nightmare, and another last night.

Hiccup's abandonment of Berk had left Astrid with scars that she wasn't sure would ever heal, the guilt of causing him suffering, emotional and physical, for years, rejecting him at every turn when he didn't have a soul to turn to in times of need, and when he finally found the strength to carve a piece of the world out for himself she had the nerve to call him a liar and a cheat, in many ways Astrid found herself to blame for him leaving, for leaving Berk without a heir, for leaving herself without those three words she wanted to hear but now never would, ' I forgive you '.

"Gyrrragh!" It was less than an hour before sunset, Astrid was practising throwing her axe at a tree, a tree that had been the focus of her anger for the majority of the day, countless marks adorned it from other impacts of the axe. Astrid yanked the axe from the tree and was about to take another shot when-

"Astrid! Suppers ready!"

"Coming Ma!" Astrid hated having to stop training, even if she needed to, it was the only thing that would take her mind off of Hiccup, even in her sleep she would have nightmares about what terrible fate may have befallen him.

On her way to the door she was intercepted by an all too familiar Jorgenson.

"Hey babe."

"Urgh, Snotlout."

"The one and only." Snotlout had only become cockier and more self centered than ever over the past year, he only mourned the death of his cousin for a day or so. Word had it that Snotlout was going to be the new heir to Berk, the thought of Snotlout running the village made Astrid sick, he would likely abuse his power as chief and force her to marry him, that would be her greatest fear if she had one, Hoffersons were known for their fearlessness.

"What do you want Snotlout?" His very presence grated on Astrid's nerves, she wanted to have this conversation over and done with as soon as possible.

"Oh ya know, just wanted to see how my girlfriend is doing."

"I am not your girlfriend, just leave me to get on with my training!"

"Training huh? I've been doing some training too, ya know working out." Snotlout flexed his biceps in a vain attempt to seduce her. Astrid was fed up with him already, she was leaving.

"Urgh whatever, I'm leaving." As she walked away Snotlout still rambled on as he followed her to the door of her house.

"Come on babe you can't resist this forever, in a couple of years I'll be chief, you and I can be royalty." As they reached the front door to Astrid's house, Astrid hurried inside and slammed the door in Snotlout's face. "You'll be mine, one day." Snotlout spoke to himself in a hushed tone before walking off to find something else to do.

Haldor and Brenda Hofferson were greeted by Astrid storming into the room and slamming her fist on the table before sitting down.

"That Snotlout kid been harassing you again Astrid?" Haldor piped up as he washed the dishes from last nights supper, Brenda was serving up today's supper.

"What gave it away?" Astrid's sarcasm spoke volumes for her current state of anger and disgust that she had to put up with every day, she was becoming more sarcastic as of late but she couldn't fathom why.

"Well don't you worry, I'll be having a word with his father Spitelout tonight."

"Good." Astrid knew that even if Spitelout listened to him that Snotlout would still chase her to the ends of Midgard.

As supper was served Astrid couldn't help but think about how the chief had been over the past year, while she had suffered emotionally as well, he was burdened with the worst of it, Stoick didn't leave his house for almost two weeks and Spitelout was force to take over as chief for that time. He eventually returned to his normal self, or what was left of him anyway, now he was quicker to temper and always gave punishments to solve problems rather than settle for compromise. Stoick was furious with his son, he didn't think of Hiccup as a son anymore and he made it clear, he practically disowned him, Stoick had become a bitter and temperamental man over time.

She couldn't imagine where he Hiccup would run off to, she had a pretty good idea why, just not where. He might have gone to live in the wilderness, but Hiccup wasn't prepared for the harsh life of the wild as far as she knew, that and Hiccup wasn't the type to make stupid decisions, if he had gone into the wilderness then he was bound to have run into at least one dragon by now. Astrid hoped he was safe out there, she silently prayed for his safety, his forgiveness and that one day he would return.

"May the gods of Asgard watch over you Hiccup." Astrid whispered to herself.

"What was that dear?"

"Nothing ma." Little did Astrid know that her prayers would be answered.

Back in the middle of nowhere

Hiccup and Toothless had been having fun all day and were on their way back to the campsite.

"Wow today sure was fun 'ey bud."

*I'll admit today was fun indeed.*

"Bet you wish you listened to me yesterday don't you?"

* I didn't want to run the risk of making Khaine angry, who knows what he is capable of in a fit of rage.*

"Well let's get back to camp before dark so we can lay back and just- wait, Toothless was that ship docked there when we flew over here an hour ago?" Hiccup saw ship anchored at the beach they were passing over and there were a lot of people on the deck.

*I don't remember that human construction on the beach if that's what you mean.*

"Let's get a closer look bud." They dove down to survey the scene, as they got closer many things were made apparent. The all of the people on the boat were men and were all armed to the teeth, numerous cages of varying sizes littered the deck, one thing stood out among the rest, the insignia on the ships sail was a dragon with two swords crossed diagonally over it, these were dragon hunters.

The sun was just setting, the rays if orange slowly disappeared over the horizon. Dusk had helped them not get spotted, they were at least fifty feet above the ground and definitely over one hundred feet away from the ship, someone would have to have a very good eye to spot them.

"OK bud I think it's about time we left." As the words left his mouth a bola wrapped itself around Toothless' left wing, they were falling before they knew what had happened, they hit the ground hard, Hiccup was flung from the saddle, as he got up he saw they were being charged by the dragon hunters, damn they were hidden by the trees. Hiccup was glad he brought his sword spear along or he would be completely defenseless right now.

Toothless fired a plasma blast at the closest man, his shield was destroyed and he was sent sprawling to the floor clutching his arm in pain, now two more bolas wrapped around Toothless, one around his legs and the other around his head, it was up to Hiccup to save them both.

Two men came running at Hiccup, one with an axe and another with a sword and shield, Hiccup ducked the axe swing and tripped the man with his leg, he deflected a thrust from the sword and forced the pommel of his weapon into the face of his opponent and following up with a whack from the butt of the pommel into the side of the mans head knocking him out cold. The axe wielder came at him again with his axe held high, a split second before it cleaved him in two Hiccup dodged to the mans right and stabbed him in the thigh, withdrew, then kneed him in the face, sending him to the floor, two down.

One man charged him armed with two cleavers, the man leapt at him his cleavers behind his head, Hiccup saw this coming and knew he didn't have the strength to block it, he back stepped out of the way and spun the spear in his left hand before resuming his two-handed grip on the weapon and swung for the mans head. The guard at the hilt of the sword blade was supposed to collide with the mans head and knock him out, but Hiccup swung an instance too soon and instead he beheaded him, the blood gushed from the mans stump of a neck and his body went limp as it crashed to the sandy ground.

Hiccup was horrified at what he had done, he knew he should have been killing these men, it was him or them, but he didn't think he had it in him to take a life, he fell back on his rear and stared at the severed head, the way its eyes were still and lifeless, how its face was contorted into a silent scream. Hiccup came back to his senses when he caught motion in the corner of his eye, he turned his head to look and was met with a boot heel to the face, pain wracked his his skull and his vision swam as his world faded to black.

When Hiccup came to he found himself tied to the mast of the ship, his sword spear lay on a rack a couple on feet on front of him, Toothless was bound in chains to his right.

"Toothless!" He tried to wriggle his way out of the rope bonds but it wasn't working.

"Well look who's finally up and about." A man stepped into view from his left, this dragon hunter wasn't like the rest on the ship, instead of worn and tattered old gear his chestplate with the same symbol on the ships sail was a reflective silver and he gripped an embellished longsword in his right hand, his helmet had two recurved horns on either side with one slightly chipped and broken. He had a black bushy beard and blue eyes, he wore a cape made of the scales of a monstrous nightmare and his free hand had a gauntlet fashioned from the skull of a terrible terror.

"Who are you? Why did you shoot us down?" Hiccup tried to hide it but it was clear for all to see, he was scared.

"Well kid, I am Odysseus Kaldavram, captain of this vessel and a renowned dragon hunter across the Archipelago. As for why we shot you down well... you were riding a dragon, do I have to spell it out for you?"

"Listen, if you let us go you'll never see us again, we'll even pay you just-"

"Now I couldn't turn down an opportunity like this when it presents itself so easily. Do you know how much gold we could get for that dragon's hide, not only that his skull would make a nice mantle piece for my quarters don't you think, and the fame we could get, we would go down in history as the first ever vikings to slay a night fury, this is a dream come true!" His fellow hunters cheered in admiration at their captain's speech.

Hiccup's blood ran cold, they were going to kill Toothless, they were going to kill his best friend for mutual gain, he couldn't lose Toothless, not know, he had been the best friend Hiccup had ever had, once again he would be left alone with no one to care for him, that's if these pirates even let him live.

"But you... you wouldn't sell for very much on the slave market, not very interesting and I don't know anyone who does business with dragon riders, but you did manage to kill Oswald, maybe you would like to replace him."

"I WOULD NEVER WORK FOR YOU LOW LIFE PIECES OF SHIT! BURN IN HELHEIM!" Hiccup's inner rage burst forth surprising the crew.

"Well looks like you've got some fight left in you yet, ah well, shame you didn't join us when we gave you the chance, now say goodbye to your dragon friend." Odysseus turned to Toothless who looked up at the man with fear he'd never seen from him before.

"NO PLEASE! PLEASE ILL GIVE YOU ANYTHING YOU WANT, PLEASE DON'T HURT HIM!" Hiccup was screaming at this point, tears flowed down his face and was fight frantically against the rope that restrained him.

*Hiccup, I just want you to know that I love you, that I'm thankful you are my friend.*

"TOOTHLESS!" Odysseus raised his sword up high, ready to cut down on the dragons exposed neck. Hiccup couldn't bear to watch, he forced his eyes shut and hung his head in shame, waiting for this to all be over. Then he heard it, the imistakeable sound of steel tearing through flesh, the wet sound of blood splattering against the floor. Hiccup opened his eyes, daring to gaze upon the sight before him, but what he saw was nothing near what he expected to see.

Hiccup saw the captain impaled on an enormous sword, part of it had gone through to embed itself in the wood of the deck. Everyone looked in the direction the sword had come from to see a large hooded silhouette with yellow eyes perched on the bow of the ship, Khaine stepped down from the bow and and spoke with authority and hatred in his voice.

"I believe you have something of mine."

The men paid his words no heed and charged him, they had made a big mistake. Khaine drew another sword and deflected the first few blows that came at him with ease, then he started hacking and slashing his way through them, every hit was a killing blow and theirs were either deflected or dodged. Khaine was an unstoppable force of fury, the dragon hunters were slaughtered and those who survived fled below deck.

Khaine came over and cut Hiccup and Toothless' restraints, he took Hiccup's sword spear from the rack and passed it to him.

"I though I told you to stay put." Khaine seemed so calm after carving up half a boat load of people.

"Can we please talk about this later!"

"Fine now let's get out of here." As soon as the words left Khaine's mouth did the hunters resurface from below deck, having rallied with more numbers.

Hiccup knew that now he would have to do something he never though he would be able to do, he would have to kill. One man charged him from the left with an axe and shield and another on his right with a hammer, Hiccup dodged under a swing from the axe wielder and sliced through his abdomen, he met the hammer wielder head on with a leaping strike that stabbed the man through the heart. Hiccup looked up to see a crossbow aimed at him, he ducked the shot just in time, he went for an over head strike, but the hunter was lucky enough to have caught the shaft of the spear while trying to block the blade, he drew a dagger and swiped at Hiccup who's forearm was sliced down to the bone. Hiccup quickly recovered and swept his legs out from under him, the stunned hunter was finished off with a thrust of the blade into the center if his gut.

The battle was over after the sound of one more body hitting the floor, all three of them were covered in flecks of blood. The boats deck was littered with bodies and dismembered limbs, mostly being Khaine's doing. Hiccup could only stare at what was before him, what if there was another way, he could have taught the dragon hunters that dragons are only misunderstood, then maybe... maybe all this bloodshed would never have happened. Hiccup finally snapped out of it when Toothless push his head under his arm, crooning worriedly for his rider.

"Its OK bud, I... I'm fine." Toothless sniffed his arm and found the large gash in his forearm.

*Hiccup this wound is deep, I think you should tend to it immediately.*

"Don't worry I'll bandage it up." Hiccup patted Toothless on the head, Hiccup was always thankful that he had a good friend at his side, but his wound wasn't what was on Hiccup's mind right now.

"Hiccup, you alright?"

"Yeah, yeah sure." Hiccup certainly wasn't alright, he seemed slightly spaced out and more focused on the battle that had just taken place.

"Its the killing isn't it?" Khaine had come to know this boy well over the past year and he knew that this situation would prove to be a big challenge for him, not just physically but emotionally as well, it might take some time for him to get over this but he would recover eventually.

"I'm thinking... maybe we could have convinced them ya know, then we could have avoided all of... this."

Khaine knelt down and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Listen Hiccup, I know you're one to try and avoid violent situations, but you're going to have to kill people if you want to survive, you and Toothless both. You will face many challenges in life and you will need to find your own way around them, I can't be around to help you forever. I know this won't be easy and you'll need some time to process this, but it will have to happen, some people can't be reasoned with and you will have to kill them, understand?"

Hiccup stood idly for a moment before responding. "Yeah... I understand."

"Good, now let me see if I can find you a bandage for that." Khaine got up and headed down bellow deck to find some bandages. Toothless nudged his way under Hiccup's arm and crooned softly into his side.

"That was a close call 'ey bud?" Hiccup scratched Toothless' favorite spot under his chin, earning a warble of approval.

*Hiccup, I almost lost you back there, I felt so helpless in that moment and- look what I'm trying to say is that I love you and that I would never know what to do if I ever lost you.*

Hiccup didn't need to know what Toothless was saying to understand him. "I love you too Toothless." The two then embraced each other and just stayed there for a while, that was until the voice of a certain revenant disrupted them.

"Hey Hiccup, Toothless, come check this out, you'll love this." Khaine called from bellow deck.

"Come on Toothless, let's see what he's got to show us." They both reluctantly pulled out of their embrace and went down the ramp that led bellow deck. They saw Khaine over by a door with light illuminating his silhouette.

"Come over here." They both followed him into the room, it was a small room with lots of maps, books, jewelry, a bed, two candles on a wooden desk to light the room, and a lone chest in the corner of the room. "I figured you would like all of this, but that's not all." Khaine moved over to the chest and opened it.

The chest was filled with luxurious items, fur clothes, wraps of silk, dragon pelts (unfortunately) and six pocket sized bags all presumably filled with gold. "What's in these?" Hiccup picked up one of the bags and jangled it slightly to hear the jingle of metal on metal. "Gold?"

"Well what else are you gonna put in a bag that small?" Khaine remarked. Hiccup took all six bags and stuffed them into his pockets, its not like the captain is going to spend any of it now is he? As Hiccup picked up the last bag he felt it didn't have any weight to it. "Huh?" He shook it just to make sure, it was faint but something was definitely in there, he took a look inside but didn't see anything but a small glint at the bottom of the bag, he felt around inside and found two small objects, he took them out and opened his palm to see two small black ovals that shone in the candle light.

"What are these?"

"I dunno, but they look expensive."

"Really?"

"What?"

"Whenever you talk you've always got some sage advice, you've always been the wise man of the group or at least have something intelligent to say, but instead you come out with 'it looks expensive.'"

"Oh really?" Khaine put on the best posh person voice he could. "How about now? Oh these are some very exquisite jewels we found on a ship who's crew was coincidentally dead when we arrived." Now he tried a pirate impersonation. "Or how about now little laddie 'ey?" And now he was just being stupid, he held all the bags of gold like it was a baby and was hunched over slightly. "Duuuuuuuh, dis is ma gold and I is gonna buy me a bucket for ma head hehehe." They were all in hysterics now, Toothless was able to maintain his balance while Hiccup was rolling around on the floor, clutching his stomach, Khaine had to lean on the wooden desk for support.

After a few moments they regained their composure. "Alright mister rocks for brains, let's head back to camp." To Hiccup's dismay Khaine was still making a fool of himself, now he was hopping around from one foot to the other while singing random tunes loudly and stupidly. Now it was Toothless' turn to fall over.

*Pl- please stop Khaine I- I can't breathe, I hahaHAHAHAHA!*

"Come on Khaine, you- you look stupid... enough." Hiccup managed to get out through wheezes of laughter.

"Hey, at least I have muscles." Khaine flexed his arms to show his masculinity.

"Nice try but you're not gonna get me that easily, come on I'm tired, let's go back to camp." They packed up all the things they found in the chest (except the dragon pelts of course) and made their way back to camp in their respective ways.

One Hour Later

Back at Camp

They were all sat around the campfire, Hiccup was digging in to the leg of a deer they caught this morning and had roasted it over the fire, Toothless had the rest of it since he need a much larger intake of protein. That was when something crossed Hiccup's mind.

"You know I just remembered." Hiccup said talking to no one in particular.

"Remembered what?"

"You never finished that story, ya know about how you became a revenant."

"I guess I never did finish it did I." Khaine seemed reluctant to cover the topic.

*Oh more stories of your past, please continue the tale."

"Very well, let's get this over with."

"Khaine what's wrong? You sound like you don't want to tell the story." This was so unlike Khaine to hide something, or even act nervous for that matter.

"That's because this part of the story gets a bit... emotional." Emotional? Now something was definitely up.

"Come on. Where's that big ol' mentor of mine? This isn't like you, where's that sense of humor you had ten minutes ago?" Hiccup tried to get him to laugh it off, but Khaine gave Hiccup a glare that told him in no uncertain terms ' Not. Another. Word. '

"OK uh... I- I'll shut up." The tension hung in the air for a moment before Khaine broke the silence.

"Look I'll tell you the story, but I will warn you things will get a bit dark... if you know what I mean."

"Sure, um... OK."

*I understand Khaine."

"Right, last time I think we left off at when the king took me under his tutelage, correct?"

"Yeah I think that was it."

"Very well, after that day I trained harder than I ever thought possible, the king's training pushed me to my limits, and beyond. I was taught to wield a variety of weapons, the history of war and those our nation took part in, even how to lead an army, it was almost as if he knew I was going to be the captain of the guard. After ten years of training I finally became one of the guard, and that was when I met her."

"Who was 'her'?"

"She was one of the guard, she had joined only a few months before I had. She was beautiful, the way her scarlet red hair whipped around in the strong wind, the way her bright blue eyes reflected the sun's gaze, the way she spoke, firm but gentle, and the best part was we fell for each other, not just me." Khaine was completely enveloped in the details of his past, as he stared out into space with a glazed over look in his eye.

"Wow you too were quite the match huh." Hiccup couldn't help but think back to Berk and how things could have gone if he actually told Astrid about his feelings for her, would she have rejected him, would she have loved him back?

"We were content with each other, whatever time I didn't spend training or escorting the king through the city I spent with her."

"What was her name?"

"Her name was Astreya, the love of my life. After a year of being one of the kings royal guard the captain was killed in his sleep and I was elected to take his place despite my lack of experience, the killer was never found. I remember being paranoid for almost a month that the same killer might come after Astreya, but she helped me manage that. Some times we talked about how we wished we didn't become the kings guards so we could live a life of our own, have children of our own, but we were under oath to devote our lives to protecting the king, we never left the city walls unless the king left for some important meeting elsewhere and we had to escort him. Life wasn't the best but at least we had a roof over our heads and food on our plates."

"You said you studied battle tactics, did you ever go to war?"

"Yes, unfortunately that is where I met my end in my mortal life, although it was not the way I would have wanted it to be." Khaine's eyes held a furious, steely gaze that told bitter vengeance and hatred.

"What do you mean, ' not the way you wanted it. '" Hiccup was afraid to ask the question, he had never seen Khaine this angry before, he could snap out in anger and beat him to a pulp if he asked the wrong question.

Farrenhiem

500 years ago

Alexander Venerious Terrin, Captain of the king's royal guard, stood watch over his army, his swords both sheathed onto his back, his old swords had been replaced with ones made of silver with gold embellishment, while most of the King's guard wore bronze armor the captains armor was made of gold reinforced with iron, only the best for the royal guard. The visor of his helmet was like an oval shape except it was very thin, spread end to end at each side of the helmet, each end was pointed and the top and bottom sides were curved with about three inches of space between them to see out the front of it.

The mouth portion of the helmet extended forwards a few inches further than the rest of it, like half of a pyramid on its side with one corner facing down and the other two curved to meet at a point, on the left side was Farrenheim's flag engraved onto it, a knight with a longsword pointed towards the ground in a two hand grip with his head bowed, on the right side was various artistic patterns painted delicately with black paint. Lastly the helmet had two golden ornate wings fixed to either side. The armor was thin plated as well, as to compliment his fighting style, going into battle in heavy armor with dual swords was suicide, you'd have to be insane to even try.

The chest plate was covered in studs except in the center that had the face of a woman with a crown engraved into it. The shoulder guards were also studded but were silver instead, the edges were raised with slightly more golden/iron plating. The arms were much the same only without the studs, on the left fore arm the head of a lion was engraved and on the right fore arm the motto of the king's house was inscribed, 'The title of king is not a birthright but a privlage'.

It had been three years since he was appointed captain of the King's guard, he had seen his fair share of blood during his service, executing murderers and battling in a few skirmishes despite his young age. It had also been three years since he met Astreya, the years hadn't made her any less beautiful, he still silently prayed that they could be free of their oaths, that they could just run away and live a life of their own.

But that was not where his thoughts should lie at this hour, two weeks ago a warband of tribesmen came rushing from the east and burned three villages down, Farrenheim was next on their warpath and that was not going to happen to his home so long as he still drew breath. Alexander looked to the sky, judging from the suns position it was currently mid afternoon, the warband would be here before nightfall. The army was ready, he hoped that his years of experience had taught him well, Farrenheim was about to see war for the first time in half a century.

The captain knew exactly where to position his forces, shields at the front, swordsmen behind and archers at the back. Soldiers on horseback would circle around and strike from behind once the tribesmen forces had passed over the hills in the distance, this battle was as good as won, the numbers of these savages was no match for generations of battle strategies and the leadership of Farrenheim's best, their warband would be in ruins before dawn broke.

A lone figure emerged from the crowd, he only carried a quill and a rolled up piece of parchment, he must be one of the scribes.

"I bring a message from the king, it appears to be addressed to you mi'lord." Alex took the parchment and spelled off the seal before unravelling it.

Dear Alexander Venerious Terrin

I request that you return your forces to the walls of the castle and take up position there, I have received word that another force is approaching from the west and we do not have the soldiers to fight a battle this size in two places at once. I know the village folk mean dearly to you but we cannot risk losing our entire army and then leaving the city defenceless, we will evacuate as many people as we can but time is of the essence and hate to say the village is all but lost.

Yours truly

The Lord of Farrenheim

"WHAT!?" Alex shouted so loudly it made some of the men jump and shuffle. Was the king serious, leave the village to burn? The city's population had long outgrown the limits of its walls so a village was built around the outskirts of the wall to house the city's people. But the city's wall only had four gates, there wouldn't be enough time for everyone to make it inside before the tribesmen got here, they would be slaughtered.

"Is there a problem captain?" The army's core general approached on horseback with his helmet visor lifted the reveal a bushy brown moustache and a face worn by battle and age.

"Listen, I have to see the king immediately, if I am not back by the time the enemy warband arrives then its up to you to lead the men into battle. Remember the plan, shields up front, swordsmen behind, archers in the back and horsemen circle around to counter attack."

"Aye sir."

"I will require your mount if I am to get there and back as fast as possible."

"Of course sir." The general kept off his horse and landed with a loud clatter of iron plates. Alex climbed atop the horse and set off for the castle gates at record speed.

Alex stormed through the village market place narrowly avoiding carts and stalls to reach the gates, as he arrived ten men from the city guard stood by the gates. Their attention was drawn to the horse approaching them dangerously fast, the horse came to a stop only a few meters, their back visibly straightened when they saw the captain of the royal guard atop it.

"You are the city guard correct?" The captain made it clear that he was not pleased in his tone.

"Y- yes my lord." The guard stuttered in the presence of this magnificent hero and failed to make eye contact.

"Then why are you not evacuating the village!" Now he was trembling, probably thinking his head was next on the chopping block for not carrying out the right orders.

"T-th-there has been no o-order of an evacuation sir."

Alex hesitated for a moment. The king had not ordered an evacuation? Didn't he say he had in his message.

"Well I'm ordering the evacuation, gather the rest of the guard and get to it!" With a single snap of the reigns, the horse galloped its way to the kings front door. Alex arrived at the steps leading to the castle's doors, upon dismounting the horse he was meet with a familiar face, Astreya.

"Alex what's going on! The tribesman's warband will be here any minute and the king is abandoning the village!"

"I've ordered an evacuation of the village and had the army hold its position until I return. I'm going to have a word with our lord." Alex made a move to the steps before a hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Wait! Going against the King's word, are you insane? You're the captain of the guard, you remember the oaths we took, he could have your head."

"I will not stand by idly and watch my home burn to the ground."

"Then I'm coming with you, I'm not letting him lay a hand on you."

"Thanks, that really means a lot to me Astreya." The two of them shared a brief, heart felt kiss before running up the steps to confront the king about what was going on.

Upon entering the throne room everything was as it should have been, the royal guard stood in their regular positions, one by each pillar, the king was sat on the throne and the Farrenheim crest hung above the throne, but there was an ominous atmosphere in the room, something was off, and Alex was about to find out exactly what it was.

"Captain, is there a reason you are not with the army to help repel those barbarians?" King Farrenheim's scowl said that he was less than pleased.

"My lord, I received your message, surely you cannot abandon the village folk to the wrath of those savages, they'll be slaughtered, their homes plundered!"

"Which is why I ordered the village evacuated and we must move our forces behind the castle walls if we are to stand against their overwhelming numbers, that is what you have done haven't you?" Alex ignored the kings question and furthered his argument.

"I spoke to the city guard and no evacuation was ordered, the enemy will be here in a matter of minutes and-"

I AM THE KING, MY ORDERS HAVE BEEN GIVEN AND WE ARE SHORT ON TIME, SO WHY ARE YOU HERE AND NOT ON THE BATTLEFIELD CAPTAIN!" His voice echoed through the room and his face was seething red.

"With all due respect my lord, the village is my home, I can't stand by and just watch as those... monsters burn it to the ground!" The king hesitated for a moment before speaking.

"Are you... breaking your sworn oath to me captain, you know the price that comes with such disgraceful act, don't you?" Alex felt the stares of everyone present in the room bearing down on him, one of the guards to his left slowly shake his head, a warning not to press any further and beg for the King's forgiveness, but Alex was not the kind to back down from an authority figure.

My oath was to serve my king and to protect the people of Farrenheim, you have given me an order I cannot fulfill without breaking my oath."

"You have spoken your last, as the Fourth king of Farrenheim I declare you a traitor to your kingdom!" The king lifted his rapier and pointed it at Alex. "Kill him!"

The guards surrounded him with their weapons drawn, ready to attack. "What! You still follow him after he allows his people to suffer to save his own pathetic life, there is a fine line between loyalty and blind faith!"

"Enough of this madness! KILL HIM!" Alex had only enough time to draw his swords before he felt something cleave its way through his calve, he fell to one knee and a blade was held to his throat, he looked along the sword to see...

"Astreya?" Alex's voice cracked as he looked upon his lovers face, once a kind and gentle face now judging and hateful, her sword brandished with fresh blood and thirsted for more.

"I'm sorry Alexander, but my loyalty is to my king and you have betrayed him, while you may have forsaken your oath, I intend to honour mine and my king." Alex's world was shattered, the one person he thought he could have trusted, Astreya, had just turned her sword on him. He felt lost, he felt alone... he felt betrayed.

Astreya lifted her sword to finish him, but there was a moment of hesitation in her swing, that was all he needed. Alex swung his swords upwards in a reverse grip to deflect the blow and rolled backwards to get to his feet. His injury would mean agility wasn't an option, he would have to stand his ground and deflect attacks as they came.

Astreya attacked first with an overhead strike, Alex responded by swinging his left sword to meet her's, Astreya then feinted her attack, withdrawing and dropping down to spin and take out his legs. Alex had predicted this, he had know her long enough to know how she fought, she was very reliant on counter attacks, sometimes too reliant. Alex jumped over her sword and landed the butt of his right sword on the bridge of her nose, most likely breaking it. She stumbled and fell on her back, shocked at being bested so quickly by someone who was so severely crippled, truthfully Alex almost fell himself having to land on his bad leg.

"Why? Why Astreya? I loved you. I trusted you! You sold me out for a shred of honour, or did he pay you to stab me in the back!? How did he deceive the rest of you? Power, money, loyalty, lies? But that doesn't matter, what matters is that our king told me to leave the village undefended during an attack from a barbarian warband and didn't even order an evacuation, that village would be in ruins if I hadn't ordered it! HE WANTED ME TO LEAVE MY HOME TO BURN!"

The guards shuffled noticeably, they looked at each other not knowing if he was lying or not. "This man- no, this fiend ordered me to forsake everything I fought to protect. Do you think he would care if you died, would want to die protecting someone who intentionally puts his people, the people who trust him to protect them, in danger? Would you still follow him blindly if he told you to stand and watch while the people you love die right in front of you!?" The king was through with this charade.

"ENOUGH! I SAID KILL HIM SO KILL HIM!" The king had to shut him up before he convinced the entire guard to turn on him, his voice even carried a hint of fear. He was panicking.

Alex now pointed a sword towards the king. "Look! Even now he his desperate to hide the truth from you all! Tell me my lord, why exactly did you want the barbarians to destroy the village? Did one of the village folk offend you and decide 'why not let the whole lot burn', or did you strike a deal with the enemy for a little bit of coin?" The guard had to make a choice now, all of them, loyalty to the throne, or to the kingdom.

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH YOU FILTHY BASTARD! STOP STANDING AROUND AND KILL HIM YOU WORTHLESS SHITS, KILL HIM!"

Then everything dissolved into chaos, members of the guard turned on one another, brother against brother, it was unclear who fought for what side. It all happened so fast, Alex didn't have time to react before a sword was shoved through his chest from behind. Time seemed to slow down as he fell to the floor, blood spewed forth from his wound like a fountain, men who once fought along side each other now cut down friends and rivals, the king ran through the side door to cementing his cowardice forever.

Alex hit the ground shoulder first, his agony subsided as his vision blurred and the sounds around him grew distant. The last thing he saw before he left the mortal world was Astreya's face crying and shouting at him, begging him to stay, then darkness claimed him. Before he passed on, he swore he could hear the quiet singing of an angel.

Midgard

The three were dead silent for almost a minute, Khaine looked a broken man, amber yellow eyes staring into the fire in search of solace in his misery.

"I think... that's enough for one evening." Hiccup could have sworn he saw Khaine shed a tear before he wiped it away and looked away into the tree line.

"Khaine, are you OK?" Khaine steeled himself for a moment, standing up and walking away.

"Khaine!?"

"Yes Hiccup I'm fine. I'm going for a walk, you two get some sleep." Without another word he disappeared into inky blackness of the night.

*I never could have imagined Khaine would have such a troubled past, I hope he will be all right.*

"I know Toothless I'm worried about him too." Hiccup was shocked, when Khaine said the story was going to get dark that wasn't what he expected.

"Maybe we should get some sleep bud, I'm sure Khaine will be back to his old self in the morning." Hiccup's thoughts were dashed as an anguished shout escaped from the forest, followed shortly by the sound of bark snapping and splintering. "Well I hope at least."

The two of them managed to get to sleep surprisingly easily with Khaine's screams echoing throughout the island. Hiccup didn't get much however, his sleep was plagued with nightmares about what could have happened on the boat if Khaine wasn't there to protect them.

Little did either of them know that this endeavor would strengthen them however, their journey was far from over and they would have to be strong, for each other, and for all of Midgard.

Thank you all for reading this chapter, feel free to leave a review and I'll try to upload sooner next time. If anyone still wants to make cover art PM me and we can make it happen.