"Why did you continue fighting when you knew you couldn't?" Vylma asked Stoick as she wrapped the bandage around his stomach.
"Because they needed me," he answered.
Vylma rolled her eyes and stucket the end of the bandage so it would sit.
She had come walking in this east side corridor to see how many of her people were wounded. She had come to 12 when she saw Stoick laying by the wall, sweating and holding his side in pain. Vylma had asked what had happened and he told her how his side had been hit by something when he jumped into the water with Magnhild and now it was an open wound.
Vylma ran back to the east room to get bangade and water and now she had cleaned it and wrapped it up. She didn't dare stitch it up, the bandage needed to work until they could find someone who could stitch him up.
"Just stay still and I'll try to find a healer."
"Where's Ingrid?" he asked.
Vylma turned her head to the way the rest of the rooms laid. "She's probably with Berk," she started and turned back to him. "Helping all the wounded back there."
Stoick nodded and pulled his shirt back over his stomach. He then leaned his head back to the earth wall. "And everyone else?"
"Dad's helping Berk and Finn's is just outside looking if any from Berk is out there." she explained. "I haven't seen mum or Magnhild, but I'm sure they're fine."
Stoick looked out to the east entrance out to the platform where apparently Finn was. "He's out there alone?"
Vylma nodded. "Yeah, Toothless have called every dragon to check how many are wounded and how many are… dead." she looked down at her hands. "So Lyrke isn't with him, he's out there alone." she added.
Stoick thought for a while until he tried to stand up. "Then I'll go out and help him."
Vylma raised her eyebrows and pushed him down by his shoulders. "Are you mad? You need to stay put so the wound doesn't…" she looked down and saw the red stain his shirt became more red and bigger. "Get worse" she sighed.
Stoick hissed and put his hands there.
"Stay there while I'll get another bandage," she stood up and pointed a finger at him. "Promise you stay. Finn is walking around dead bodies, it is not like they'll wake up and start fighting him." she walked away and Stoick made grimash.
He watched Vylma walk away, it was then he heard a sword against a sword getting hit and his mind went direct to Finn. Why was Finn fighting someone if everyone was dead?
He sat and listened for a while, trying to hear if it was just his mind playing tricks or if it was real. It could also be a sword getting thrown on top of another sword, but it sounded like a blow. Stoick scanned the corridor around him and saw that he was alone, he couldn't ask anyone if they heard the same.
Stoick became worried, what if Finn… another hit was heard and Stoick stood up, ignoring the pain and that he heard Vylma come back. He had his focus on the entrance and he started walking out of the room.
Vylma came into the empty corridor and frowned, but she knew Stoick couldn't have walked the same way she came so he must have walked out to Finn.
She walked after him and saw Stoick running over the field to Finn, who was fighting with one of Grimmel's men. She stopped in her tracks and wished she hadn't left Stoick alone.
Stoick ran towards Finn and the man he was fighting. Passing and jumping over dead bodies as he ran to help his brother. Finn was losing, that was a fact and he had now dropt his sword and even if the man was slow, he had an upper hand. Stoick was just a few meters from them when he grabbed a sword from the ground from a fallen soldier and Stoick stepped between them, not ready that both he and the man pierced their sword into each other.
Stoick gasped and felt his blood rushing through his body. His ears ringed and the man before him fell backwards. He himself could feel his legs giving out under him and he heard Finn screaming his name. Something inside him moved. Stoick hit his back and head on the icy ground. Finn's face came into view and he was crying and holding him while Stoick felt blood coming out of his mouth.
Finn. His brother Finn who was alive because of him.
"You promise? To always have my back? Even if I turn into a nerd?"
Stoick small laughed. "Yes, always and forever."
Stoick tried to smile, but didn't know if he succeeded or not. It didn't really matter. He told his little brother that he would always have Finn's back, and here was the proof.
It wasn't meant for Stoick to die here and now.
He had a village to look after, a girl to get married too, siblings to protect and tease, parents who needed his help when they got old, friends to hang out with and a dragon to live with.
Stoick wanted to take over his dad as the chief of Berk. He wanted to watch Berk grow and keep them safe. He wanted to wake up beside his wife and wake up to the sound of children being awake.
His and Ingrid's kids. Watching them grow and be there at every step they take. Watching them laugh, cry, scream, smile, pout and them being themselves. He wanted to watch his children grow to become someone.
Those were his dreams and now they were shattered before him. Like a stone falling into the ocean, lost forever and would never see the light again.
Stoick closed his eyes and let the Valkyrie take him to Valhalla. Where he would meet his grandmother and Gobber and would finally meet his grandfather.