Part 7

*Please note: Not beta'ed. Also if Dagur/Hiccup is not your cup of tea, kindly close this story and look away 3*

Dagur was nowhere to be found.

Heather of course was the first one to notice his absence from the base. She had returned from patrolling later in the evening and he wasn't in the common hall or inside her house. Hiccup wasn't around either but she knew better than to ask about their whereabouts with the twins around. They had noted their absence during the evening meal as everyone else did, but strangely they didn't point it out in any way. There was a tense mood and Astrid being there was probably a good explanation for that.

The dark haired female went around to search for him, her steps led her to the stables. She had left Windshear there earlier and didn't cross him, but this was the only place left where he could have gone at that time of the day.

She looked around. No, he wasn't there she concluded, looking puzzled around for any clues she could use in her search.

Then it dawned on her that Shattermaster was also nowhere to be found.

"Okay, this is not good" she muttered and run hastily toward Hiccup's place. Immediately she noticed there was something wrong with the mechanism of the door, a few metal pieces had fallen down, glinting coldly in the moonlight.

"Hiccup?" she announced herself before stepping on the entrance, unsure if the other was inside the dark room or not.

"What's wrong?" the tired voice of the raider's leader came from the inside.

She couldn't see him yet but saw a movement close to the source of Hiccup's voice and Toothless yellowish eyes turned to look at her.

"Are you okay?" she asked, forgetting for a moment about the disappearance of her brother. That tone was concerning. Then again they had been very stressful days.

"Fine" he cut shortly as he continued "So, what's wrong?"

"Dagur and Shattermaster are nowhere in the base" she informed him and nervously waited for any answer he might have. Did he send him on a solo mission without any warning to the others? She feared that it had to do with the temporary situation but was hoping for the best.

Hiccup was quiet for a long while before she could hear him sigh "He probably needs some time alone"

"What do you mean? Did anything happen to him?" she asked, a bad feeling creeping into her thoughts. She finally had adjusted her sight to the dim lighted room and she went a little further inside. Hiccup was sitting on his bed, elbows on his knees and head down. Toothless was in front of him on the ground and was now rubbing his muzzle against his human's head.

Since he wasn't responding she continued "Did you two had a fight?" she inquired now suspicious, inching closer.

He snorted and only later replied "You could say that".

She didn't understand "Hiccup, please if something had happened I need to know. I don't want to loose him now that he is family" she pleaded to him, forcing out of him an explanation she could accept about that sudden disappearance.

"He just need to sort a few things out, that's all" his answer arrived quickly, but she could hear an uncertain note behind the words "He will be back for you, don't worry".

She remained silent for a while watching the other closely. He was definitely hiding something.

She narrowed her eyes "Did he hurt you?" she finally asked, giving voice to the deep fear that has been slithering inside her guts.

"No Heather he didn't" his tone was sincere but his actions told her she needed to press the issue.

"Why won't you look at me then?"

"I don't understand how that is relevant"

Heather gently kneeled down onto the ground "Please Hiccup".

The hooligan's chief inhaled loudly, turned his head toward the crouched figure and met her gaze "He didn't hurt me" he repeated with hard edge in his voice.

The movement of course let Heather see the red spots and scratches all over his face and the upper part of his neck.

Those weren't signs of...Oh. She blushed right before her expression turned horrified.

She felt her anger rising, her mind jumping to the only conclusion she could now think of because of what she had seen. His brother nowhere to be seen, destruction left on his path and Hiccup hiding in the darkness with those marks on his skin.

Hiccup read her expressions and shook his head "It's not like that Heather" Hiccup patted Toothless on the head as he stood up "He didn't force me. If anything I had to force him. I needed to show him what was happening, it was getting out of control" He offered a hand to help her up her feet again.

She rose to his height "So you are saying...?"

"It turns out we are" he paused and flushed adorably diverting his gaze from the one so similar to her brother "physically attracted to each other"

"Oh" she nodded hesitantly and fell silent once more. She definitely needed to make order to her thoughts.

"Is- is it safe to let him go alone right now?" she then asked quietly.

"I'm not sure. But Shattermaster is with him, he will never let something happen to him" he smiled tiredly "Don't worry. As I said he will come back. If nothing else just for you"

Heather squeezed gently his shoulder in support "Thank you for telling me this" she said as she began to exit his room. Just before going all the way out she hold ther steps to turned one last time to look at him

"Does Astrid know?"

"Yes"

The following day Hiccup appointed Fishlegs as his vice and left early the Edge for a solitary patrol.

Like Heather, the blonde male had noticed the small bruises but he decided not to pry. He assured his leader that he would have kept everything under control, twins included.

Hiccup's reassuring smile was enough to put him at ease. Maybe the situation wasn't that bad after all.

During the morning Hiccup and Toothless had encountered a few hunter ships in one of the dragon's island. They easily managed to damage them and protect the dragons. So much so that it had felt too suspicious.

Hiccup thought that maybe those were just scout ships, so they decided to wait a while to see if anyone else was going to catch up with them.

Once they were sure none was coming, they flew their way back to the Edge.

It was early afternoon and the sun was creating waves of light over the ocean's surface. Hiccup found himself mesmerized by that sight and his mind drifted off.

Inevitably he began to think about what had happened the evening prior, his face colouring up at the memories. He was still recovering from the discovery of his attraction to the other male but those sensations helped him to focus positively on the matter.

He had always thought of the female vikings of his tribe as his possible mates and when Astrid had finally showed an interest on him of course he was more than obliged to reciprocate. He had finally what had always wanted.

But then Dagur came back to his life. At first as the dumb bully he always remembered him to be. A dumb bully obsessed with him.

Oh, how he had hated his guts at first. Every time he came up with a different plan to capture them, threatening Toothless and all his friends and family. Each time failing because of their wit or Dagur's own oblivious decisions, now he wasn't so sure anymore.

He still couldn't fathom how was it possible that now, with just a single touch or look, he felt his head spin and a burning passion such as he had never felt before.

He sighed. Contrary to what had told Heater, he was slightly worried about the Berseker. He had seen his face after their kissing session and it had been frightening. There were too many emotions raging in his eyes and Hiccup didn't know how he could manage, alone, to keep them under control.

He surely hoped that Shattermaster would help him in some way but he needed to find him sooner than later, that's why he was taking so long to go back to the base. They were also searching for the redheaded viking.

Toothless growled and all his thoughts shattered as he got immediately back on alert.

"What's wrong bud? Did you see him?" he asked the night fury that was pointing at a something floating in the ocean. Hiccup squinted his eyes and could make out the silouette of a man helding onto a piece of wooden plank.

Toothless was already gliding down without any command from his human and quickly grabbed the man with his claws. Hiccup leaned on the side to take a look at what they had captured but the man wasn't the one they were looking for.

"Johann! Are you okay? What happened to you?" he asked him as the other was regaining consciousness.

"Mmm?" he blinked half asleep and jerked awake when he realized he was flying over the ocean. "Oh, oh master Hiccup! That's so very gracious for you to save me once more from the peril of the sea. For a second I thought I was being brought to the presence of the might Ratatoskr onto his majestic-"

"Yes yes Johann, I'm also very happy that you are safe. Now tell me, what happened?" Hiccup asked impatiently the merchant, he didn't have time or desire to hear of his fantastic ramblings.

"The most unfortunate thing happened to me master Hiccup. Fate had wanted me on the same watery path of those horrible, horrible dragon hunters. Usually they graciously grace me of my freedom, but this time they took my ship and all my treasures! They told me they needed it for some kind of exchange in the northern markets. It seemed very important" he told the dragon rider as he gesticulated clumsily because Toothless claws were holding him in a stiff pose.

"Could it be a dragon lens?" Hiccup asked from up the Night Fury.

"That, or just dragons master Hiccup. You know those goons, nothing good ever comes from them"

Hiccup fell silent, they needed to do something about that. His to-do list was getting bigger and bigger.