"The hard part about being part of this team is not risking your own life, it's watching your friends take chances with theirs." - Cameron Mitchell, Stargate SG-1
As soon the great hall door closed behind her, silence fell like a thick welcoming blanket over her.
Magnhild took a deep breath and filled her lungs with the cold and calm air after being surrounded by warmth and tense air all day.
It had been five days since the war ended and Berk had finally started to come back to life. Slowly people started to continue to go back to their old lives after either losing a family member or helping those in need. The great hall still held a lot of injured people, but a lot of them were getting better and would soon be on their feet, going back to their old lives.
Magnhild knew Berk would never be the same as soon as she put her feet on Berk five days ago. After her father told her to get her mother home and a few other people who were able to travel at that time, Magnhild could feel the empty and grey atmosphere that would hold onto Berk for weeks.
She hated it. Feeling trapped in sadness and all the people around her who cried and felt… lost after losing someone was something she would gladly skip in her life. But now, she couldn't. Magnhild herself was one of those people who felt like that. Sad, ready to cry at any moment and lost after losing someone. She wanted to run. Run away from all of this, like the time her grandmother died. Run away from the sadness.
But she couldn't. Her brother needed her, her father needed her, her mother needed her, Berk needed her.
Every day she had been in the great hall and helped the injured to get them back to their feet. She had helped her father to keep Berk alive. Making sure food and water was enough for everyone. Helping with the funerals of those who had died from their wounds. While trying to keep a positive mood in the village.
Before she walked into the Haddock house, Magnhild checked the dragons. They also needed her.
Toothless was with her father in the great hall. Temple and Stormfly were fast asleep. Even if Magnhild could see that Stormfly was not sleeping well, because she was worried about Astrid, Magnhild was glad that the dragon could even sleep at all. Lyrke was in the house by Finn's side and Egil hadn't been seen in three days.
After Stoick died, Egil had been in grief. He hadn't been eating, sleeping and it was only thanks to Toothless that he even flew to Berk. But he had left the day after and now, no one knew where he was. Everyone knew the dragon was not okay, but they hoped he at least was alive. Wherever he was. Maybe he had gone to the hidden world? He wasn't on the island that is five minutes from here.
Magnhild walked into the quiet house and sighed.
The morning dishes were still in water, the fire burned low and Finn was still laid by Lyrke's side.
Finn and Lyrke had taken over the corner of the downstairs room. He was wrapped in a blanket, lying by Lyrkes side and had only moved when he needed the bathroom. Finn had refused to even take a foot in his and Stoick's bedroom. Magnhild understood him. She hated the feeling of waking up to an empty bed on the other side of the room when Vylma had become queen. Magnhild had gotten used to it and knew her sister was not gone from her life, but Stoick was. Not gone from their hearts but gone in person. Stoick's bed was forever empty and so was the place beside Finn. The side where his twin brother was supposed to stand.
The bowl of porridge that their father had placed by Finn's side this morning was half empty and they should be happy that he at least ate something, after days of forcing him to eat so he wouldn't waste away.
Magnhild walked up to her brother and took the bowl from the ground.
"Hey." Magnhild stopped in her action when Finn spoke. "What's going on? I heard you and dad talk about Heather dying…"
Magnhild sat the bowl down on the ground and herself next to him. "No, she's not dying. She's just… Well they don't really know what to do with her arm."
Finn frowned and sat up. "It was cut open and what I understood wasn't serious."
Magnhild bit her lip and looked down. "It was fine, but yesterday it turned black and her leg isn't that much better either. They fought about amputating the arm, but Gothi is afraid that Heather is too weak to get through it."
Finn looked away and sat up.. "So, what are they going to do about it?" he asked quietly.
"Heather got the last call, so they are amputating it any minute now at Gothi's. Snotlout is trying to keep it together for Thora's sake, but he was shaking in fear when I last saw him." she shook her head slowly. "I can't imagine losing a son and then a wife in such a short time."
"And Thora?"
"She's shaking more than her father."
Finn sighed and leaned against Lyrke. He closed his eyes and gently stroke the dragons scales.
"Will you be fine?" Magnhild asked and took the bowl again.
"Will I ever be?" he mumbled.
"Guess no one will be." she whispered and stood up and placed the bowl on the table. She could deal with that after she had checked on her mother.
Her parent's bedroom was dark, just like every time at this hour when she checked on her. Magnhild placed the candle on the bedside table and looked at her mother.
Astrid looked like she was sleeping and Magnhild wished that she was, then it would be likely that she would wake up and they wouldn't have this endless waiting over them.
The wait that had led to Hiccup barely sleeping anymore. Magnhild had heard him talking to her mother every night since he got back from the island and Magnhild had seen her father cry more than smiling these past days.
She didn't blame him, no one blamed him for not smiling or had this grieving aura around him. No one was expecting anything big from him, but as his daughter, Magnhild wanted to see her father smile and laugh. She also wanted Finn to be happy again, she wanted everyone on this island to be happy again, but she knew Berk would never be the same old Berk again.
Magnhild took a deep breath and ran a hand through her hair. Her blonde hair was a mess because she hadn't taken care of it since she got back five days ago. Now, her hair was in a simple braid hanging down her back. Having no energy to style it further.
Magnhild sat down on the bed beside her mum like she had done everyday for the past five days.
"Berk is getting better, even if... this family is still... broken and depressed. But I don't think that will change anytime soon." She bit her lip and looked at her mum, who didn't react to her words. "Vylma still hasn't come home, but I guess she has her own... problems to figure out on Barvik. Dad hasn't really changed. He still tries to help everyone while keeping himself in check."
Astrid didn't say anything and didn't move. Magnhild looked at her face and tried to see any part of her body moved, but it was only her chest that raised and lowered when she breathed.
"Just wake up. I-I don't know what...dad will do if you... died. I don't know what I will do." she closed her eyes and took a shaky breath. Tears were coming. Tears that she was done with.
She opened her eyes and prayed that her mother would wake up right now, she didn't.
Footsteps and a gentle purr and then a light slam of the backdoor, made Magnhild look at the open bedroom door and frown until she realized that Finn and Lyrke had walked out from the house.
Magnhild stood up and grabbed the candle before she walked out of the room and came half down the stairs when the front door opened. She stopped and her eyes widened at the sight of her sister.
"Vylma." Magnhild said in shock and in relief. Shocked to see her sister with everything going on, she had no idea how bad Barvik was but Magnhild thought Vylma wouldn't come to Berk for weeks. But she was relieved that Vylma actually was here.
"Hi." she said awkwardly and grabbed her thich brown cloak, like she wanted to hide under it.
That's when Magnhild realized that this was the place Vylma and dad had fought and Vylma had pretty much disowned herself from the family. Magnhild had no idea what had happened when their dad had saved Vylma from the red death or when Vylma flew to where dad, Toothless and Grimmel had landed.
Hiccup hadn't talked about it and Magnhild didn't want to talk about it.
"Is she okay?" Magnhild got snapped out of her thoughts by Vylma's words. "Mum? Is she okay?"
"Eh... yeah. Her wounds are healing but she's not waking up and we have no idea why. So nothing has changed since... you know."
Vylma nodded and looked around the room like she was looking for someone. "And Finn?"
"He's... well as you expect him to be I guess." Magnhild switched the weight to her other leg and she realized that she was still standing on the staircase. Shouldn't she be hugging her sister or something? Vylma was in pain as Magnhild, maybe even more because of what had happened between her and dad before the battle started.
"Where's dad?" Vylma asked.
"He's at the great hall I think." The sound of Toothless low rumble and landing outside the house made them look at the front door. "Or he's right outside the door."
Vylma took three steps away from the door and when it opened, their dad came in.
Hiccup's eyes landed on Vylma and a mix of shame and relief came over him.
The room became quiet and when Magnhild felt the tension in the air got bigger, she excused herself and went out the backdoor to give her dad and sister time to speak alone with their… situation.
Vylma tried to keep her eyes on her father, but his sad face made her look away. She didn't know how to start this conversation. Even after the four hours on the dragon back of thinking about how to tell her dad everything and how to start talking, Vylma felt her mind and mouth not connecting with each other.
But Hiccup knew that there was one thing he needed to say; "I'm sorry, for everything. I should have thought about you and Barvik. I hope you can forgive me for being so foolish."
Vylma pressed her lips together, still couldn't look him in the eye. She had thought about that. The forgiving part. Could she forgive him? He could have led to her death and her people, which he hadn't thought about. It still hurt, but he hadn't let Toothless go free. The war had happened and they had won. Lost many people because of it, but a victory either way. She had maybe been a little harsh on him? Vylma didn't remember everything she had said that day after everything that had happened afterwards, and the more she thought about it she maybe had said things in anger; of course she had said things in anger. She had been angry and now she was still hurt.
But he had thought about keeping his people safe, his family- wasn't she his family? Well, not now. Not really. She had disowned herself and if he had really thought about his family, he would have thought about her, his own daughter. He hadn't, but he didn't know what she had done for keeping her people safe and Berk. What did that have to do with anything? Grimmel would have come for her either way. Well, Hiccup would do anything to keep his people safe and making sure this war wouldn't happen was a way to keep Berk safe, to let Toothless go. But he should have thought about Barvik and his daughter, because if Barvik falls, Vylma falls too.
So no, she couldn't forgive him.
Vylma opened her mouth to answer and looked at his eyes. The eyes that had always been light with happiness and love towards her. The green eyes that looked at her with pride throughout her childhood, like she could never do anything wrong in his eyes. That light was gone, maybe it was gone when she had told him about what she had done to gain Grimmels trust, and it was replaced with shame and sadness.
It looked like he had aged ten years in the past five days. His body was not standing straight like it used to, his hair was a mess, his eyes hung low and the stubble could be considered a beard any day now.
He didn't deserve a no from her. Not when he looked like he was going to fall apart any second. "I don't know." she whispered and Hiccup heard it in the quiet room.
Hiccup nodded slowly. "I...I can take that. I don't deserve your forgiveness, but I was hoping…" his words died out and he looked away from her.
"That I would forgive you." she finished for him. "And I want to, really. I don't want this… fighting between us, or what you want to call it." She rubbed her forehead and let her hand slide down her face. "I want to go back to the time before I became queen. To the time when my only concern was to keep Delia a secret."
Vylma knew she needed to talk about her. Delia, the red death. The dragon that somehow was on the battlefield and the dragon Vylma had killed. She knew her father (and all of Berk) had questions about the dragon and it was time to at least tell her father about Delia.
"You had to keep it a secret?"
Vylma took a deep breath. "When I was eight, I found a dragon egg on an island and took it here to Berk with me. Brie found a whispering hole that was empty and the egg hatched. I then knew that the dragon was a red death." Hiccups eyes widened and Vylma continued, "For two years me and Brie keep Delia, the name I gave the red death, a secret here on Berk, but when Toothless started to get suspicious and dragons started to fly away from Berk I gave Delia a new home on a island where she lived until I was 15 and she escaped. That's the reason I became queen of Barvik. Delia flew to Barvik and frightened the people and I told Delia to leave, she did and Barvik saw me as their saviour. Long story short; either I became their queen or they would kill Brie. The choice was pretty simple because there was no way Brie would die because I decided to keep the egg and not leave it be."
Hiccup's eyebrows were raised and he stood frozen in place. His mouth opened and closed, like he was going to say something but couldn't get the words out.
"I have no idea how Grimmel got his hands on her." Vylma said. "I looked for her after she had flown away from Barvik but I couldn't find her. I know he had tortured her because of all the scars and the…. He had made her blind."
The weight on her shoulders vanishes. A weight that had been there since she found Delia until now. A secret weight that had almost vanished when Vylma couldn't find Delia two years ago and had come back when she saw the dragon again, and now the long hard secret was out and she felt more relieved now than when she told her grandmother about it.
The air was quiet and heavy around them. Vylma waited for anything from her father. Disappointment, anger or disgust. Maybe happiness that she finally told him? No, happiness was the furthest emotion he would feel right now.
His eyes were wide and stared into space. His mouth was slightly open and Vylma wanted some other reaction than she was giving right now.
"Well, that explains the red death." he simply said and Vylma let out a breath she didn't know she held. "But how- how did you know how to… kill it? Or I suppose you would have that figure out after spending like… eight years with it. Killing a red death with a plasma blast seems like not the only way to kill that type of dragon." he rambled.
"There was a soft spot on her back which I discovered…" Vylma let her words die out and pressed her lips together. "Are you disappointed in me?"
"No." he said gently. "You will never disappoint me. You didn't hurt anyone by… saving that dragon. You even saved us by killing it, even if you raised it. You have the right to be disappointed in me, because I could have…" he closed his eyes to keep the tears from coming.
"Killed me." Vylma finished for him. "But I took Delia here and caused people to lose their dragons." Hiccup opened his eyes and frowned. "I am the one who made dragons so scared that they left Berk and those people or dragons know that. That I'm responsible for that.`` She hugged herself and felt more guilty than ever about taking Delia to Berk in secret in the first place.
"How didn't Toothless feel the dragon?" Hiccup said under his breath and ran his hands over his face. "Where is its mother?"
Vylma didn't hear what he said and took a deep breath to continue on the subject she was here to talk about. "But that's not why I came here. Well I needed to tell you about Delia and now I have. But Delia is dead and I'd like to move on to the situation that… isn't dead; Us. We left on a bad note and even if I don't know if I can forgive you, I don't want this fighting to hang over us forever."
Hiccup nodded. "Yeah, I don't… I don't want this to be hanging in the air forever too, but if you need time, I accept that. I'll wait for you and I'm so sorry for what I did and didn't think through. I'm sorry for raising my voice at you and for not running after you. I'm sorry for even dragging you into this war in the first place and I'm sorry for not fighting harder to get you out of becoming queen."
Tears came running down Vylma's cheeks and she walked the distance between them and hugged him. "Oh, dad. I'm sorry for not fighting harder to not become queen. I'm sorry for killing the night fury when I should have fought back and asked for another task to gain Grimmels trust. I'm sorry for not coming for you sooner and not the day before the battle. I'm sorry for yelling and screaming at you when you didn't know the truth."
Hiccup gently stroked her hair and shook his head. "You did the right thing to keep Barvik and Berk safe and you had the right to yell and scream at me when I was being an idiot. And you disowning yourself-"
"I'd like to take that back." Vylma said and bit her lip. "If I can, that's it?"
Hiccup smiled a little and felt the tears coming down his cheeks. "Of always have been and always will be welcome to the Haddock family."
"Even if I don't have the Haddock name?" Vylma wondred.
Hiccup chuckled slightly. "My blood still runs in you and your mother was a Hofferson before she married me."
Vylma let her father go and smiled a weak smile at him. "And everyone who marries a Haddock becomes a part of the Haddock house even without the Haddock blood. Like Ingrid would have been.." Vylma looked away after she said the last sentence and mentally hit herself for bringing Ingrid up. Because if Ingrid is brought up, Stoick is likely to be too in these times.
Vylma didn't want to bring Stoick up right now. She didn't want her dad to be more reminded about his dead son.
"Yeah, I know." Hiccup mumbled and lowered his head as he wiped his tears away.
Vylma swallowed the cry that was stuck in her throat. She looked around the room but glanced at her sad father a few times until she took a deep breath to not break down crying.
"Speaking of Ingrid," Hiccup began carefully and looked up to her, "There's something I want you to see."
Vylma narrowed her eyes when her father started walking to the staircase. She followed him and both of them glanced at the closed bedroom door where Astrid laid. Vylma raised an eyebrow when he walked into Stoick and Finn's room.
The room was dusty and looked like it hadn't been touched for days, which it hadn't. Finn hadn't been here since the day Berk left for the battle. Hiccup had been in here to get Finn a new set of clothes because Finn didn't want to come in here any more.
"I found this," Hiccup grabbed a parchment roll that laid on Stoick's bed and held it out to Vylma to take, "Together with the betrothed necklace Stoick gave to Ingrid"
Vylma's eyes widened and took the roll. "So this is from Ingrid?"
"Yes and as soon I read it, I went to Ruffnut and Fishlegs to tell them about this, but they already knew everything from the letters Ingrid had left for them."
Vylma open the roll and started to read;
"Dearest Stoick.
I'm sorry for causing you pain.
Everything is my fault, this war is my fault.
From the moment I saw the dragon eye, I should have known what caos it would bring. I should have left it and walked away and never turned back. I should never have brought it to Berk, we should never have gone to the hidden world.
Kyria's death is on me.
Starting this war is on me.
Every death and wound that will come because of this war is one me.
I can't live with that and if I somehow get out of this alive, I don't wanna live with you.
I love you, but you don't deserve my love after everything I've done. Berk don't deserve a chieftess who brings a war right at their feet, just because I was stupid enough to bring a dragon eye to Berk when we already have a bad history with it.
I have lied to you and I feel awful about it, but I didn't have a choice.
The day you proposed to me was the day I met Grimmel for the second time. That's why I wanted to go alone to get firewood. I and Grimmel had agreed to meet on that island deep in the woods to make a deal. A deal that he would spare your, the people of Berk and Berks dragons lifes if I gave him the right instructions to the dragon eye. The instructions that Vylma will never give him. I have a plan to kill him, burn him alive together with the dragon eye information, so the war will end sooner than later. I hope it works, but I'm afraid that I can die as easily. Grimmel can kill me right on the spot or I can burn alive with him. Right now I don't care. I have disappointed everyone enough to continue standing. I have let my best friend to her death and I will never forgive myself.
I lied to you about the nadder. I started training the nadder to have her as the one who would make sure I can get to Grimmels ship while you are on the battlefield. I even trained her to light up a ball of explosion so Grimmel's ship explodes right at his feet, and I'm afraid that I maybe won't have time enough to get off that ship myself. The nadder came in handy when I went to Barvik and snuck into the castle and took the dragon eye key to show Grimmel my truth about me seeing Vylma's process of the translation of the dragon eye.
I'm not asking for forgiveness, I don't want it. If I am alive, I'm breaking up with you. I love you, but I don't want to be your bride anymore. I don't think you want me as your bride after this.
I can watch you get married to someone else, to someone who deserves you, to someone you who won't ruin your life before we're even married. I won't be happy with you and don't come begging me to change my mind about us, because I won't.
Live your life to the fullest, Stoick. Even if I'm watching from afar, you deserve happiness in your life and sadly that's not with me.
Love, Ingrid."
Drops of tears fell on the paper and it looked like it hadn't been the only teardrops that stained the paper and made a few runes smudgy. Vylma felt her breath being stuck in her throat as she scanned the runes again so everything made sense to her.
Ingrid had a plan all along. She had talked to Grimmel even after everything he had done to her. The explosion was her doing. Ingrid had made the ice and snow rain down upon Vylma and her siblings. Ingrid was the cause of Grimmel's burned legs. She had ended the war a lot sooner. She had saved lifes. How many more dead would it be if the war had been going on longer? Vylma didn't want to know.
"I'll burn it," Vylma said and squeezed the letter in her hands, "I'll burn the dragon eye and every piece of information about it. The hidden world will only exist in our heads. Where it will be a secret until we die." She turned her heel and walked down the hall towards the stairs.
"Vylma, wait." Hiccup grabbed her arm and spun her around. Vylma hugged her father in a tight hug.
"I love you, dad and I'm sorry for everything. I'll come back when mum wakes up or if anything more bad happens in this family." She said into his shoulder.
Hiccup hugged her back. "I love you too and I'm so proud of everything you've done."
"Thank you, dad." she sniffed.
Father and daughter held each other for a while until Vylma ended the hug.
She wiped her tears with her hand and gave the letter back to her father. "I better get going, I kind of have a wedding to plan."
Hiccup took the letter from her. "Who's getting married?" he asked and wiped a tear of his own as well.
"Eh… my wedding actually." Hiccup opens his mouth to say something but Vylma bet him on it, "I kind of kissed this guy as soon as I was home from the… battle and now a wedding is happening in the summer. You have met him, his name is Alvar and he's my messenger boy."
"The one with the curly brown hair and blue eyes?" Hiccup asked and narrowed his eyes.
Vylma nodded. "Yes exactly and yes, I love him or I would never have kissed him in the first place and… now there's a wedding happening soon."
Hiccup's mouth hangs open before it turns into a smile and he gives her another hug. "Congratulations!"
"Thanks." Vylma said and felt her own smile coming.
"I should have wanted to know him more," he began and let Vylma go, "because this came out of nowhere and… I'm really happy for you."
Vylma couldn't help but smile at the spark of light that came back to her father's eyes and the smile that didn't really come up to his ears, but it was so much better than the sad and gloomy person she had seen when she first saw him today.