AN: Hey, all! Another chapter here! Comin' back from that cliffhanger! Hope you all enjoy!
Music: "Forgive Me Friend" by Smith & Thell
NOTES!: "To Love someone is to see all of their Magic, and to remind them of it when they have Forgotten."
Chapter 34: Forgive Me Friend
The aftermath of the Prime Minister's attack was a whirlwind of dread and worry.
Percy and Mr. Arrow were eager to come forward with all of the evidence against Frollo from Azkaban to his illegal experiments with dark magic. The Council stripped Frollo of his title and ordered he be placed in prison until they could convene at a later time to discuss his punishment. Talia personally wanted to see him hang, but that opinion would have to wait. The rest of the dragon hunters were also arrested for conspiring with Frollo, though Viggo was mysteriously missing and was never found.
Hiccup's condition was touch and go for a long time, and while the Council was cleaning up the politics and making arrests late into the night, he was fighting for his life. Rapunzel and Dr. Sweet did everything they could, and eventually they managed to get him stable, but things were not looking good. The dark arrow, one of Frollo's experiments, had pierced his armor, and though the wound wasn't deep, the poison had reached his heart. Rapunzel couldn't speak without crying, so Dr. Sweet had to tell them that they would only know more if he made it through the night.
Their celebration of winning the war was short lived as a deep mourning fell over the castle, waiting to see if Hiccup would survive.
After everything he'd been through, now that everyone knew the truth about him being a Sorcerer and all that. Talia had to remind herself not to fall into bitterness and mourning too early. He wasn't dead yet. There was still a chance that something in the world might be fair for once.
Emma's condition had also worsened exponentially. It seemed her time with the Moonstone did heal her partially, but all the progress she'd made was quickly being lost as she deteriorated. She was frail and weak, and her voice was beginning to fail her. And yet it was her who probably did the most in that moment...
They were resting in the Great Hall, and Emma was curled up with her parents. When Rapunzel finally returned and joined her friends, Emma looked up for the first time. Eugene immediately pulled Rapunzel into a tight hug when she couldn't offer anything in response to the expectant looks she received. Jack, Merida, the Ravenclaw graduates, and the viking teens were all gathered together, looking worried and trying to comfort each other.
"Toothless is with him now... I thought maybe if he helped Hiccup heal before..." Rapunzel whispered wetly into Eugene's shoulder, and he petted her hair gently.
"You've done everything you can, Rapunzel." Eugene assured her.
"Is there really nothing more we can do?" Honey Lemon asked quietly, and that's when Talia finally took her hat off and shook her head.
"Cat's magic is a little weird. It doesn't blend well with others because it's too unpredictable. We've been lucky so far because he has such a strong and fast healing ability, but as far as healing magic goes, it doesn't do much for him." Talia told them softly, swiping at her nose to stop the drip. Eret wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close.
"Needs... Needs more." Emma spoke up, her voice a small rasp, but it made all of them look up at her.
"Emma, sweetie?" Matilda looked at her curiously, pushing a lock of hair behind her ear, but Emma started trying to get up.
"Cat," She managed, her legs shaking as she tried to stand up and stumbled, but Percy caught her. "Needs more..." She panted.
"Emma? What is it? What does Cat need more of?" Percy asked her, and Emma took a deep breath before carefully trying to whistle out a tune.
Bluewhistle perked up from where he was laying down next to them and whistled out the tune a little more strongly. Emma nodded at him thankfully, and the dragon chirped, doing it again.
"I'll... swim and sail on... savage seas..." Emma rasped out what was left of her singing voice as they all watched on in confusion. The confusion turned into shock when a little pink light appeared around her. The light took a shape and soon a little pink night fury was flying around her in time with the tune. Emma coughed harshly, but kept going.
As the tune continued, a blue light came from Jack. A red light came from Merida. And a yellow light came from Rapunzel. Each of them taking the misty shapes of night furies. Towards the end of Emma's little song, a white light came from Tadashi and joined all the others. When Emma finished her song, the night furies were all gathered together in front of her, tilting their heads up at her curiously.
"I know you wanna protect us... But you gotta go heal yourself now... Hiccup needs you back." Emma was panting, each breath an effort.
The little lights looked at each other and then at her. After a moment, they jumped up and combined themselves into a large, multi-colored ball of light. It paused for a moment, and then streaked off out of the Hall.
They watched it go, completely clueless as to what just happened, but then Emma collapsed forward and Rapunzel leaped into action again.
He was really, really sore... And his head kind of hurt... And his chest felt a little itchy...
Hiccup struggled to open his eyes, squinting as he was met with the early dawn light streaming through the window. The breeze drifted in, gently billowing the sheer curtains and bringing the scent of fresh rain and flowers... Spring was here.
He felt something squeeze his hand, and he turned to find a massive figure hunched over on his bed. Stoick was seated in a chair, but had fallen asleep with his head on Hiccup's hospital bed. Toothless was curled up by the large man's feet, his tail draped up and across the end of the bed.
Hiccup mustered up the energy to squeeze his hand back. His dad shifted and then shot up straight, his eyes wide and worried as he stared at Hiccup's face.
"Hi dad..." Hiccup whispered, his throat dry and weak.
"Oh, Hiccup," Stoick melted, still staring at him as his eyes filled up with tears. "My boy." He blubbered as the tears fell, so gently and carefully pressing his big, warm hand against Hiccup's cheek. "I'm so sorry... For everything..."
"No," Hiccup shook his head as best he could with his stiff neck. "Dad, I..." His voice cracked and broke, failing him, so Stoick softly shushed him.
"I love you, son. I always have, and I always will. I promise you." He said firmly, and Hiccup's throat choked up for a different reason. He sniffed hard.
"I love you, too, Dad." Hiccup whispered.
Stoick smiled fondly and then leaned forward to press their foreheads together. Toothless gave a warble and then jumped up on Hiccup's other side, giving him a giant lick across the face. Hiccup laughed and threw his arms up in defense as Stoick chuckled deeply before helping Hiccup to sit up in his bed.
"You scared me this time, Hiccup." Toothless told him, nuzzling his head against Hiccup's torso, and Hiccup hugged him back.
"I'm sorry... I just moved. I didn't think." Hiccup admitted. "I should've just pulled us both out of the way."
"There was no time, and what's done is done. What matters now is that you're alive." Toothless decided before pulling back and nudging him towards Stoick. "He hasn't left your side for a moment."
"I know. Stubbornness issues, remember?" Hiccup smirked at him, and Toothless snorted. Hiccup turned to his dad and smiled. "Do you think Dr. Sweet will restrain me if I try to get up? My leg is stiff."
"I'll take responsibility if he does. But if you try to go off flying and doing all those gravity-defying tricks of yours, you're on your own." Stoick offered.
"Deal." Hiccup chuckled. "But I don't think Toothless is gonna let me do anything for a while."
The Night Fury warbled an affirmative that both of them understood quite clearly.
As they calmed their laughter, Stoick turned to him. "If you're feeling up to walking, there's quite a few people eager to see you."
"I figured as much. Can we make one quick stop, though?" Hiccup requested.
Jack was sitting in the Great Hall, staring down at his breakfast, but even the smell of it was making him sick. Merida and Rapunzel seemed to be having similar issues since they hadn't touched their food either.
It had been three days now, with no change to Hiccup's condition. Dr. Sweet had ordered Rapunzel to take the morning off because she'd been working too hard after such a strenuous fight. So now they all just sat in silence, wondering if Hiccup would ever wake up. Eret, son of Eret, had a habit of checking in on them and trying to cheer them up, comforting them with tales of when Hiccup had done the impossible. And Jack was happy to find that it was reassuring, and he was grateful to the older man for trying to raise their spirits, but as the days wore on holding on to hope got harder.
The doors to the Great Hall clanked and groaned as they were slowly pushed open, and extra morning sunlight poured in. Toothless and Stoick walked into the Great Hall, supporting a wobbly but very much awake Hiccup.
Jack leaped out of his seat and raced towards him without a second thought. He crashed into Hiccup and locked him up in a tight hug as they both laughed. Merida and Rapunzel were close behind, two more tackles that almost made Hiccup stumble and fall backwards, but Toothless pressed his head against his back to get them back upright again.
"You're alive!" Jack beamed, ruffling Hiccup's hair just like when they were younger.
Rapunzel tackled him again, locking her arms around his middle and squeezing until he wheezed. "Don't ever scare us like that again!"
"We thought we had lost you again." Merida agreed, lightly tapping his shoulder with her fist.
"You know it's not exactly the first time I've been shot..." Hiccup told them, but someone slapped him on the back of the head.
"It had better be the last time!" Eret scolded him, but after a moment of firm glaring, Eret also pulled him in for a hug. "Glad to see you're okay, kid."
"Oh!" Hiccup said, turning to Jack after he and Eret had parted. "By the way..."
Before he could finish, Emma came barreling into the Hall. Her bare feet slid on the stone and she crashed into Eret, but his much larger from was unaffected by the impact and he caught her before she fell.
"It worked!" Emma exclaimed, not missing a beat as she skipped around Hiccup excitedly. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She chanted, stopping long enough to give him another hug.
"Wait... What?" Jack questioned quite eloquently as he took in his sister's latest appearance.
Gone were the dark veins and grey skin, brittle hair and dull eyes. Instead Emma was adorned in a beautiful, pure-white dress with a hood. Her skin was fair, but had a healthy flush. Her hair was a brilliant and shiny brown that hung loose around her, the wispy strands at the ends falling into little crystals and snowflakes of light. That seemed to float around her and follow her. Her eyes were a bright and sparkling purple, shining like entire galaxies.
"Emma! You're okay!" Toby called out. He, Jim, and Claire ran towards her, having stayed back a little with rest of the crowds. Emma ran over to meet them, happy to accept the hugs.
"You look..." Claire started, tilting her head as Emma quite literally glowed.
"Different," Jim supplied with a knowing smile, and Emma beamed up at him.
"Thank, Cat." She told them, looking back at him. Hiccup just gave a mock salute.
Before anyone could make anymore comments or ask anymore questions, there was a low rumble as something large flew over the Great Hall outside. A roar and a flutter of wings outside the windows alerted them to a new dragon, and Hiccup hesitated, looking over at Eret who shrugged. Stoick noticed.
"One of yours?" He questioned, but again Hiccup hesitated.
"Umm, sort of..." He said slowly. Stoick lifted one brow, but then turned and started stalking towards the main entrance. "Uh, Dad!"
"What's he doing?" Eret muttered out of the side of his mouth.
"I think he's feeling a bit protective right now, just, uh... H-hold that thought!" Hiccup held out a hand as he hurried after his Dad, and Jack didn't hesitate to follow behind him. "Um, Dad, there's something that you kind of need to know..."
"Yeah, yeah! Tell me on the way!" Stoick said over his shoulder as he continued on his way.
"Well, this isn't an 'on the way' kind of update, actually." Hiccup explained, waving his hands around nervously as he tried to find the right words. "More of the earth-shattering development variety."
"Oh, just add it to the pile." Stoick replied with enough snark that Jack was actually starting to see how the two were related.
"Dad, unlike most surprises I spring on you, this is one you'll like! I promise! You just have to handle it... Delicately, so..." Hiccup trailed off as they reached the main entrance.
Gobber happened to be standing there, staring outside with wide eyes. He slowly turned around, not meeting anyone's eyes as he tried to process what he'd just seen. "Uh... You might want to take this one." He said, clapping Stoick's shoulder as he passed before settling himself down on one of the steps. "Oh, boy..."
Stoick watched Gobber's reaction, and drew his sword.
"Whoa! Dad, uh... Could you put the sword away? Please?"
Stoick didn't stop though and marched through the door. As soon as he stepped out into the light, Stoick froze. The sword dropped with a clang and he removed his helmet. Hiccup, Jack, and Gobber peered out at the scene in front of them.
"Who's that?" Jack asked in a whisper, but both Hiccup and Gobber shushed at him, "Ssshhhh!"
There was a tall, slender woman standing out in the courtyard beside a very large dragon that Jack also didn't recognize. She looked at Stoick and her expression was a mess of emotions, but she lifted her chin as she faced him.
"I know what you're going to say, Stoick." The woman said. "How could I have done this? Stayed away all these years. Why didn't I come back to you... To our son." Her voice shook and there was pain in her eyes. "But there were such bigger dangers out there, and no one else could help. I know that I left you to raise Hiccup alone, but I thought he'd be better off without me. And I was wrong. I see that now, but -!"
This entire time, Stoick slowly walked down the steps and towards her. When he drew close she became skittish and started to back away, but found her back against her dragons shoulder as it watched on calmly and curiously.
"Oh, stop be so stoic, Stoick! Go on!" She told him, tears bullying their way out of her eyes. "Scream! Shout! Say something!"
She was so nervous, but she froze in shock when Stoick very calmly and very gently placed his hand on her cheek. Stoick's next breath was barely a whispered, "You're as beautiful as the day I lost you."
The woman's eyes went impossibly wider as they stared at each other. The woman finally closed her eyes and lowered her head, but Stoick tilted her chin up and gave her a light kiss. The dragon she'd come with gave a happy little trill, and Hiccup beamed in absolute wonder.
Jack was still pretty confused.
"I'm sorry to interrupt," Talia's voice cut through the quiet, and Jack, Hiccup, and Gobber twisted to look at her as she passed. She stopped at the top of the steps and nodded to the woman. "But I've called Valka here for a reason."
There was a heavy silence and dread that fell over the room when Valka explained that their northern blockade had fallen, and Drago Bludvist was making his way towards the Allied Territories as they spoke. The shock gave way to panic, and there was a significant amount of time spent assuring people that there was still a chance for them.
Hiccup hated that he was the chance, but it was a fight he'd been expecting for a long time now. He had just hoped to have things a little more calm and figured out beforehand. He also hated having to explain their previous run-in with the madman at the end of Summer at his mother's old nest.
The Allied Forces were immediately recalled back to Hogwarts to fortify their defenses. With Pitch out of the picture, they could all combine their strengths to defend against Drago. More dragons were to be brought to the castle, both to escape the call of Drago's alpha and to train more riders for the fight to come.
Despite the heaviness of another, even more brutal, battle coming their way, there was still a lighter air around Hiccup. Maybe it was that he could finally be with his friends without fear, of course there were times when his magic felt out of his control and he did worry, but there was no prophecy or greater reason anymore. He was free from that burden. Or maybe it was the smile that had taken over his dad's face as he held his mother's hand. His heart gave a thrill every time he saw them together and felt the pure Love there.
Later in the evening, when food and drinks were passed around and there was more time to talk, Hiccup grinned from his spot among his friends. His parents were dancing and singing together, and Gobber scooped him up and out onto the floor in his excitement. Toothless bounded after them, smiling a big gummy smile.
People were clapping and cheering all around as the song came to an end, and Gobber finally let Hiccup go as he held the last note much longer than necessary. Toothless pawed at his ears, grumbling about awful human noises. Stoick and Valka were laughing, but when they saw Hiccup, they both pulled him closer. The three of them together for the first time since Hiccup was a baby.
"Oh, I thought I would have to die before I ever sang that song again." Stoick sighed fondly.
"No need for such drastic measures." Valka chuckled, squeezing his hand.
"What do you say, Val'? Would you come back to Berk with us?" Stoick asked, and Hiccup looked up at him in surprise. "Would you be my wife again? We could be a family! Dragons included." Stoick actually chuckled when Toothless poked his head into their circle curiously.
Valka seemed just as surprised, but so happy to hear those words. Her eyes were filling up again, but this time for a better reason, and she nodded vigorously. "Yes!" She whispered.
Cheers went around the Hall, and Stoick pulled her in for a kiss. Hiccup tried very hard to keep his composure, but the thrill in his heart echoed down to his stomach and all along his spine. The night sky enchantment of the Great Hall gave a flash, and suddenly the starry night was filled with brilliant colors of fire. Everyone was looking up and gaping at it in both wonder and confusion.
"Uh," Hiccup ducked his head nervously. "Sorry, I didn't mean to... It just sort of happens when I'm happy sometimes." Stoick and Valka both looked at him with wide eyes, but then smile brightly at him and pulled him in for a hug.
"We have quite a remarkable son, don't we?" Stoick turned this question to Valka, but his hand stayed resting on top of Hiccup's head. Valka nodded her agreement, pushing some hair out of Hiccup's eyes.
The bubble of a moment was popped when Emma rushed passed them and leaped on top of the table, reaching her arm up to run her fingers through some of the colors. The green light turned purple against her hand, and out of the fox-fires swam a misty image of a Sea Lion. It spun and twirled around Emma as she laughed.
"That is so cool!" Toby exclaimed.
"My turn!" Jack called out, flying up to the colors. His turned blue and became a dolphin that jumped and twisted every which way in play.
Very quickly the scene turned into everyone trying to see their own patronus, and somewhere in the back of his mind, Hiccup figured he should teach some of them how to do it if he could. But for now, he was just happy to listen to the laughter and the music.
This was all he wanted.