A/N: Sorry that this chapter is late guys! I've been working my ass off on a uni project that is due on Monday and haven't had the chance to upload the chapter (oops). But since it's my birthday today, I'm taking the evening off, so you guys finally get your chapter hehe! :)

The reviews really flooded in after the last chapter, thank you so much! I haven't had time to reply to them all individually like I normally try to do but do know that I have read them all and really appreciate the kind words :)

Anyway... enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 12

Soon enough they had got a fire crackling in the stillness of the forest and Viggo's heart took to pounding again. Selfish coward. His conscience wasn't letting this go. Hiccup was cooking fish over the fire, pain visible in his eyes. But there was no more wild rage there. There was a certain peace that lingered now, even with a corpse lying not even fifty feet away from them. But maybe that was just Viggo's brain searching for excuses to not say what he had to say.

"Hiccup," he began finally. Hiccup looked up from the fire, an almost innocent look of curiosity in his eyes.

"Oh yeah, you were going to say something, weren't you?" Hiccup said after a moment, suddenly remembering. Viggo nodded.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Of course," he said with no hesitance. Viggo took a deep breath.

"What do you believe happened in the two months you were… Johann's prisoner?" he glanced at the corpse as he said this, looking back in time to see Hiccup's face fall. He no longer met his gaze but stared at the fish he was cooking.

"We lost the war," Hiccup said eventually and Viggo felt his breathing hitch. He had known it all along, yet somehow hearing the words spoken aloud was different. "Johann… he killed them all. The twins, Fishlegs, Snotlout, Astrid, probably Toothless and my father as well. I can only assume Berk is in ruins." If Hiccup hadn't been gazing down, he might have read something wasn't right from Viggo's face. But he wasn't. Viggo took another deep breath, every word coming to him with great difficulty.

"You're sure about that?" he said. Now Hiccup looked up, face appearing slightly bewildered.

"Yeah. Aren't you?" he asked. Viggo gave a slight sad smile.

"How did you come to hear about this?" he asked softly. Hiccup's eyes fled his gaze as he frowned as if he couldn't quite remember himself. There were a few more moments of quiet, with just the flickering of the fire to break the silence.

"Krogan's men. They… they held parties outside my cell every few days. Every time they held something as loot. Things the other Riders always wore, that they could only have got their hands on if-" Hiccup's voice broke and he gasped in air. "… if they had killed them. It couldn't just be from a capture. They were trophies. And if they all died… there's no way we won the war." Hiccup shook his head and Viggo paused, trying to discern whether or not he was crying. He had no idea what kind of emotions he'd unleash once the truth was out.

"How long after your capture was this?" he asked. Hiccup shrugged.

"I don't know exactly. Probably a couple of weeks."

"And you weren't talking?" At this, Hiccup looked up again, defiantly this time. Viggo had been right. There was a glimmering wet line that ran from Hiccup's eye and down his cheek. But even brighter was the fire in his eyes.

"No. I never talked. I never uttered a word."

"And you don't think it was odd that those… parties happened right outside your cell?" Viggo asked. Hiccup frowned.

"What are you trying to say?"

"I'm saying… Johann has always been an expert manipulator. He had the whole archipelago fooled for years…" Viggo said slowly. Hiccup shook his head, forehead furrowing even more. "I'm asking whether it ever occurred to you that what you were led to believe could be a product of… Johann and Krogan's desperation?"

"Because I wasn't talking?"

"Maybe. But maybe it was more than that. Maybe because of what was going on outside your cell." Hiccup shook his head more adamantly this time, looking down again. Viggo could have sworn he saw a new flash of stubbornness in his eyes.

"You're not saying what I think you're saying." It wasn't a question. It was a statement. Viggo took another deep breath. He was getting it, good. Now he just had to convince him.

"Hiccup… if Johann won the war, why didn't he send an army to kill you or bring you back? Why did he come himself, put himself in harm's way, with only six men with him? That's not the move of a victorious warlord." Hiccup sniffed loudly, shaking his head again. "He lost, Hiccup. That's why Krogan is dead. That's why-" He stopped, stunned, as Hiccup shot to his feet.

"THEN WHY HAVEN'T THEY FOUND ME?!" he shouted. Viggo stared up at him. There was fury in his eyes, hurt and so much emotion. Maybe accusation too. "If they won, like you said, Viggo, why haven't they found me? I understand. I see it now. Maybe Johann manipulated me. Maybe he kept me on a ghost ship so the other Riders couldn't find me. But here, now, why haven't they found me? Why haven't they come looking for me here?"

"They think you're dead, Hiccup!" Viggo replied, straining not to shout. He took another breath, dropped his gaze before he softly said, "So did I until you crash-landed here." He heard Hiccup mutter a breathless no and dared glance up at him. His jaw had dropped and he stared at some spot in the middle distance. Viggo could only guess his mind was racing.

"All this time…" Hiccup whispered. "All this time… I mourned them. I thought…" He shook his head again, dropped the now burnt fish to the ground and started pacing. His breaths were shallow, his hands covered his mouth and tears rolled shamelessly down his cheeks. "They won!" he said in disbelief, then raised his voice to shout into the forest. "We won!" Viggo watched in silence as Hiccup walked the same ground over and over, letting it sink in. Then he abruptly stopped, looked from Johann's body to Viggo, still sitting on the rock next to the fire. Viggo felt his heart drop.

"How long have you known?" Hiccup whispered. "You must have figured out that… that I didn't know," Viggo gulped.

"I'm sorry, I should have told you sooner," he said quietly, but Hiccup didn't even seem to hear. His eyes were frantically flickering all over the place, a tell-tale sign that his mind still hadn't fully processed the new revelation. When his eyes stopped on Freedom, Viggo already knew what was coming next.

"They're alive…" he breathed, a delighted smile pulling on his lips until he laughed breathlessly. Viggo let himself smile a little too, glad he'd done the right thing. "I have to go to Berk! They have to know I'm alive! I have to -" He reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked to Viggo like a small pendant. "I have to see Toothless, Dad, Astrid. Oh, Thor!" Hiccup clutched the pendant then quickly pocketed it again and ran to Freedom, who looked beyond startled, terrified even. Viggo finally got to his feet.

"Not so fast, Hiccup!" he called. Hiccup looked back at him in confusion. "You're in no shape for such a long flight. We've just fought off half a dozen men out to kill us, you haven't packed anything for the journey and we haven't even eaten breakfast yet!" Viggo watched as Hiccup looked at Freedom, took a deep breath, then looked back at him. The slight disappointment did little to hide his pure delight.

"Alright. We eat breakfast, we deal with um… Johann, pack for the journey and then I head to Berk this evening." Viggo paused. Part of his brain protested to Hiccup leaving so soon, so suddenly. But he knew he couldn't – and shouldn't – withhold Hiccup any longer.

"As long as I consider you are well enough for the journey, yes, you can go," Viggo replied, knowing he sounded more like a worried mother than a grown man who had somehow become allies with the heir of Berk.

"Fine," he said, striding over to the pile of fish Freedom had brought. He picked up two, tossed them to Freedom, who caught them by the tail in his jaw and carried them towards the hut to eat with Stormchaser. Hiccup picked up the stick he'd been cooking on, pushed the charred fish onto the grass and skewered another one. The newfound enthusiasm didn't go unnoticed to Viggo, who sat back down on the rock and watched him silently.

"What was that in your pocket?" he asked eventually. Hiccup looked up with a smile. Viggo found himself liking Hiccup more like this, even though he knew this would probably be the last day of his company.

"It was my betrothal gift to Astrid. I gave it to her at the Northern Markets. We were investigating the Sandbuster. Actually…" Hiccup smirked slightly. "I remember, we found your sword in that underground lair too." Viggo raised an eyebrow.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, that was about a week before you took over the Edge to get the Dragon Eye out of the volcano and we found out that you weren't dead," Hiccup quipped. Viggo had the decency to look guilty but didn't see any bitterness in Hiccup's eyes.

"Ah, yes, I remember that too," he said, allowing himself to smile at Hiccup's good humour.

"But all's well that ends well, as they say," Hiccup shrugged, handing him the cooked fish with a smile still clear on his face. Viggo took the fish, looked down at the fire and chuckled.

"Yes, they do say that," he muttered. Hiccup skewered another fish and resumed cooking.

"I hope she hasn't decided to go after Snotlout after all," Hiccup muttered eventually. Viggo could tell by the volume of the comment that it wasn't meant for his ears, but he heard it and laughed anyway. Hiccup looked up quizzically.

"Oh, Hiccup, do you really think so little of yourself that you think your betrothed would go after that muttonhead – pardon my language – not even three months after you disappeared?" he asked. Hiccup shrugged.

"Well, I don't know," he replied, but the smile on his face and joy in his eyes said otherwise. He knew all too well. It was heartwarming.

Viggo almost felt happy enough to forget that he'd be alone again by this time tomorrow.

In the end, they burnt Johann's body. Neither of them thought it was right to give the traitor a grand funeral and it was decided that the ship Johann had used to travel to the island would likely be more useful to Viggo in the world of the living than to Johann in the realm of the dead. So Freedom, supervised by the two men who didn't particularly want to witness the burning but had to nonetheless, set the body ablaze until all that remained were ashes. Viggo volunteered to carry out the tedious job of collecting the remains while Hiccup found a spot to make the burial mound. At one point the Rider had considered burying Johann near the spring, where the poisonous snakes often were, for the sake of irony. He regretted the thought instantly.

Normally, such a burial would also involve the deceased's personal belongings. But since Johann had made the unfortunate decision of coming to attack them with a rather bare ship, there was nothing much to bury. All they could find was a collection of knives, a small store of food that would have fed Johann's crew for a mere few days – and was better off feeding Viggo than being placed in a mound of earth – and a few more weapons and blankets and such items. Tradition dictated that they should provide the dead with all they would need in the afterlife. Hiccup didn't imagine knives and blankets would help much in Helheim, but since Viggo didn't want them, he diligently placed these in the earth along with the ashes, then covered it all with earth.

Both Hiccup and Viggo were glad to finally have the dreary task behind them and Hiccup was eager to prepare for the journey to Berk. Viggo was gracious enough to pull out a map and show Hiccup where he had to go, Freedom was well fed and rested ahead of the twelve-hour journey and the few belongings Hiccup had after his stay on the island were collected and put in a satchel. Viggo strongly considered suggesting Hiccup stay until the next day but didn't dare burst the young man's bubble. Besides, he told himself, he didn't imagine Hiccup would sleep very well knowing that miles away, everyone he loved was living under the presumption that he was dead. And thus, Viggo kept his mouth shut.

He kept a smile on his face, which was only forced part of the time. Hiccup's happiness and excitement were contagious, it seemed. But he couldn't fool himself again. It was hard to prepare for the young man's departure. While he might not have appreciated it in the stress of the moment, fighting alongside Hiccup instead of against him was… dare he call it refreshing? It had certainly done him good. Hiccup had sharpened his senses and had brought out the more human side of him. Viggo didn't dare call himself Hiccup's mentor, that would be stretching it, yet he couldn't deny the way he had naturally felt the urge to help.

So when he finally stood on the cliffside where they had first met, this time in the ghostly light of the crescent moon, he felt himself failing to keep the smile in place. Goodbyes had been said to Stormchaser back at the hut, but now it was his turn. Hiccup happily mounted Freedom, the satchel with belongings on his shoulder, then looked back at him.

"You know," Hiccup said. "You'd be welcome on Berk." Viggo chuckled.

"I appreciate your optimism, dear Hiccup, but I doubt that is entirely true. Not everyone is as quick to forgive as you are."

"The other Riders know about what happened… when you helped me get off Johann's base."

"I don't doubt you told them," Viggo said. He appreciated the gesture, he really did. But he wasn't planning on leaving the island he'd made his home, even once Stormchaser had recovered. "Only I imagine after all I've done, I would not blame your people for being wary of me, or worse. Stormchaser needs me here, but thank you for thinking of me." Hiccup glanced down.

"I could come back for you," he said. "Once Stormchaser is ready to fly again. I could tell my father about what you've done for me here. I could make a place for you on Berk." Viggo smiled. The boy was persistent, he had to give him that.

"I doubt you will need my company once you return," he said quietly. Hiccup looked mortified.

"Viggo, I mean it. I want you to come," he said. Viggo paused.

"Alright," he said eventually. "If you settle it with your father and come back, I'll come. I still doubt you'll need me around, but if you insist, I'll come." Hiccup hesitated, then smiled, as if sensing that that was the most he'd get out of the Grimborn.

"Thank you, Viggo. For everything," he said, pausing as he looked at him. Viggo thought he would fly off without another word, but was surprised when Hiccup slid off Freedom's back and threw his arms around him. Like an old friend would. Viggo was stunned, but he found himself smiling into the embrace anyway.

And before he could say another word, Hiccup had mounted his dragon again.

"I promise I'll come back for you," he said.

And then he was off. And Viggo turned to walk back to the hut through the silence of the forest.