The night had been quiet since Hiccup left with his wife, kids, and few tribe members back to the cove. More of the Hooligan tribe stayed in the hall asking Stoick and Valka questions about Hiccup and Fury Isle but honestly Stoick didn't have those answers. There was a lot more to the mystery of Chief Hiccup the Dragonborn to still be discovered. Around 12am, all the Hooligan's were safe in their homes sleeping again but in the cove however, Hiccup remained awake in deep thought. He was leaning against Toothless staring up at the sky while the rest of his family and tribe members were asleep around him in the cove with the fire going. Hiccup sighed out heavily lowering his head and closing his eyes in defeat. First time back to Berk in 7 years and he killed someone for talking about Sylvi and his kids badly.
"Chief?" Hiccup looked over to see Audun awake now.
"Something wrong?" Hiccup asked.
"No sir, just making sure you're alright. You've been quiet since we returned to the cove." Audun stated.
"I'm fine. You should be sleeping, we begin our journey back to Fury Isle after sunrise." Hiccup said.
"I noticed you were awake. You're thinking about the old man...Mildew, was his name?" Audun watched as Hiccup turned his head. "Chief, you can't beat yourself up over it. You warned him to stop and he didn't."
"But I shouldn't of resorted to killing so quickly. Mildew has always been that way, ever since I was a kid. I should of known not to play into it. He purposely irritated me..." Hiccup clenched his fist tightly.
"You're a protector sir and you've said it yourself...Somethings are necessary to protect the tribe, protect the ones you love." Audun offered.
"You know I never lose control so soon." Hiccup retorted.
"That guy was threatening to hit Sylvi, he called her out of her name and then your kids too. I would of done the same, especially if I'd warned previously." Audun sat up now.
"I've only killed one other time, Audun...And it was because I had no choice. I had a choice this time...And I chose to kill him. Because I wanted too. What does that make me? A murderer? Being here makes me angry. Among the people who never saw me as a tribe member, never protected me. All of them, turned on me...I know Stoick said he wouldn't stop me from killing Mildew...But I still should not have done it, I should of walked away." Hiccup growled a bit. "But I didn't. I killed him, without remorse too. Because I wanted too...I wanted...revenge on this tribe for all they did to me. How can I call myself a chief when all I want is revenge on them for the past. I'm no different than Stoick."
"Chief, that isn't true. You killed him because he was a threat to your wife, and kids. He tried to hit her, you never act that way unless its out of self defense. You saved her, and your kids. You are nothing like Stoick, you don't kill mindlessly. You only kill when you have too, and you had to protect your family. You lose control here because its where everything started, where they abandoned you, hurt you and forced you to exile yourself. These people were supposed to be here for you as our tribe is back home, these people were supposed to be a tribe to you and they weren't. You feel betrayed by them, and when someone betrays the tribe...You punish them for the protection of the others." Audun stated calmly.
"But they aren't my tribe anymore. Haven't been in 7 years." Hiccup sighed.
"But they still betrayed you and when one tried to hurt your family, you protected them. Like a true chief would, like a husband and father would. Don't let it destroy you chief, you did the right thing." Audun yawned. Hiccup looked down a bit thinking about what his father in law said before closing his eyes.
"Go back to sleep. Wings up in 7 hours." Hiccup ordered, Audun nodded and laid back down, closing his eyes to go back to sleep. Hiccup continued to think on Audun's words, he was right. Why should Hiccup feel bad about killing Mildew, the guy wouldn't step even after being warned and he tried to hurt Sylvi. Hiccup was betrayed by the Hooligan's, and that was both a hate and a pain he would never stop feeling nor could he escape from it. It didn't matter how far he traveled, it would always be apart of him in some way or another.
(Early Morning Hours)
Hiccup had managed to fall asleep for maybe an hour after the talk with Audun, he felt a little bit better about what happened but fact of the matter was that he still killed someone who wasn't a member of his tribe and no one stopped him. He laid awake again, it was still dark out and maybe around 4:30am. Eret was up on guard duty, the men were taking shifts after 11pm. Hiccup took the first watch, let Audun sleep through his since Hiccup wasn't tired anyways. However when Eret woke up for his, Hiccup decided to try and sleep which is where that hour came from but now he just laid awake on the forest floor. Syvi was holding Thurmond in her arms and the girls were sharing a bedroll together. Alva was against her Nadder, and Audun laying beside his Nightmare. Eret had just put another log on the fire to keep the burn low but still throwing off heat.
Hiccup rolled over and closed his eyes trying to get back to sleep, it was going to be a long flight home and all he needed was to be tired for that since he was carrying Sylvi and Thurmond on Toothless with him. He was the only one who could fly Toothless and messing up or falling asleep mid-flight wouldn't be good at all. But he couldn't sleep, he just wanted to leave now and get off Berk but he couldn't. He'd given Fishlegs the option to join the Dragon Rider tribe so Fishlegs was coming back with them and probably riding with Audun. Hiccup knew that Astrid, Snotlout, and the twins wanted to learn how to ride too but he he didn't believe they were ready to give up Berk or do the year of training. Not to mention, he didn't trust them one bit with dragons. Hiccup knew he had Stoick's word about harming the dragons anymore.
Stoick promised that no more dragons would be captured or hurt. He would let Valka take care of it, now the question remained if Stoick would keep his word. Hiccup was just falling back to sleep when he felt Eret shake him lightly. "Chief." He said, Hiccup groaned and sat up opening his eyes.
"Yes?" Hiccup replied looking to Eret.
"Dragon raid." Eret said pointing to the sky, Hiccup looked up and saw the mass of dragons flying overhead. Yep. Raid indeed. "Should I wake the others?" Eret asked.
"No. Let them sleep. This isn't our island, we don't do raids anymore. If there is an issue requiring us, my mother will come let me know. For now, we stay out of it. I don't want my wife or kids in this mess..." Hiccup said.
"Aye sir. I'll continue watch then." Eret nodded. Hiccup gave a single nod in return as he laid back now watching, he wasn't getting involved unless he had too. Hiccup wanted to see Stoick keep his word for once, it was a little comical that they got a raid the same time Hiccup was on the island and knew how to stop it but wouldn't. This was Berk, not Fury Isle. Berk did things differently so Hiccup wouldn't impede on it, if anything the village would look to Snotlout now who was growing into his role as soon to be chief. Hiccup knew his cousin would be fine, Snotlout didn't want to chief the old way, he wanted to do it Hiccup's way by having peace with dragons and moving towards the future but Hiccup wasn't going to teach them his trick. They would have to discover it themselves, like he had too.
(Daybreak)
"Chief, this raid is out of hand! What do we do!?" One said to Stoick.
"I-I don't know...Snotlout, you trained with Hiccup. He had to of said something about raids." Stoick looked to his heir now.
"Yeah he did tell me something about them..." Snotlout slowly turned his a bit looking to Stoick as he was waiting for an answer, "His island doesn't get them."
"Not helping." Astrid punched Snotlout's arm. "You're the soon to be chief, do something!"
"We can't do anything...Not without resorting to killing them and Hiccup will never forgive us if we do. Alright...Mrs. Haddock!" Snotlout called, Valka looked over to him now.
"You're the only one of us who can fly a dragon...Go to the cove, and...ask Hiccup for help. We can't do this without him." Snotlout ordered.
"Right. Cloud Jumper!" Valka jumped on her dragon's back and sped off towards Ravens Point.
"Now what..." Fishlegs asked.
"We do what we can to protect the village. Put out the fires, hide the food...Try to fend them off without hurting them." Snotlout said.
"Yes sir!" The twins, Fishlegs, and Astrid saluted. Stoick only watched proudly at how Snotlout handled things and now he knew the boy was ready to take over. However now was not the time to be thinking about that.
(Cove)
Eret saw Valka land in the cove and Hiccup was already up before Eret could get his attention. "Son we need you." Valka said.
"I don't do raids anymore. This is Berk's problem..." Hiccup retorted.
"I know and they don't deserve it, especially from you after all they did but if you don't help...There will be bloodshed, on both sides. And I know you don't want that. That is not the kind of man you are, Hiccup." Valka said softly.
"Are you asking me to do this for them." Hiccup questioned.
"No." Valka shook her head, Hiccup arched a brow. "Snotlout told me to ask you to come help us. That we couldn't do it without you. He sent me, he took charge when your father didn't know what to do. Please, Hiccup..." Valka asked. Hiccup searched her eyes to see if his mother was lying, but he found only truth. Snotlout had sent her for help from him. "They don't want to hurt the dragons, son. But if you don't help, they will do what they have to to keep the village safe. You keep saying you want to prove dragons aren't bad, this is your chance to make them all see."
God damn it. He hated when she was right, he vowed when he left Berk to Gobber that he would make them all see the truth one day and the only way to spread that truth was to start one place and spread it out. If he stopped these raids, Berk would see the truth and then it would spread out to other tribes. This was something he always told Thurmond he wanted to do and Thurmond told him to keep his dream alive and one day there would be peace for all. This was his chance. "Toothless." Hiccup said, his dragon stood up with a yawn. "Time to end this. Eret, you and Audun stay here. Keep my wife and kids safe. Alva, you come with me in case Gothi needs help with healing others." Hiccup ordered.
"Aye chief." Audun, Eret, and Alva saluted to him. Hiccup got on Toothless's back and opened his tail up.
"I'll give the signal when its safe to bring them." Hiccup told them, Eret and Audun nodded to him. Alva was on her dragon, as was Valka. Hiccup sighed, here they go. "Lets go bud!" Hiccup commanded, with a powerful leap Toothless took to the air. Valka and Alva following closely behind. The trip from the cove to the village wasn't long, maybe 10 minutes and as soon as Hiccup landed the village looked to him pleadingly.
Snotlout and Stoick approached now, "Please...We don't...want to hurt them, Hiccup but these dragons aren't docile like the ones on your island...Help us." Snotlout asked.
"None of you are deserving of my help after how I was treated here 7 years ago when I tried to help and now that you've seen what I can do...You want it. Ridiculous." Hiccup scoffed turning his head from them then he sighed without opening his eyes. "I help this one time. The next raid I expect you to handle it yourselves." Hiccup stated, "Get back." Hiccup ordered.
"You heard the man! Get back and stay clear!" Snotlout ordered everyone, they all stepped out of the way and in a group as Hiccup pulled Inferno and tied a string around one side of it. He activated the blade but not the fire yet.
"Toothless, lets do this!" Hiccup commanded, Toothless gave a warbled response to him as they took to the sky and everyone watched what he was doing. Hiccup sparked the blade and let it dangle from the string, he held it tightly and began whipping it around over his head. The blade stayed lit and looked like a spinning fire wheel in mid-air.
"Woah..." The group below gasped. The whipping Inferno set off a loud whistling like sound and the dragons raiding began to stop, settle and look up at the spinning fire. Then they all took to the sky and began flying in a circle following the same direction of the Inferno's spin. Hiccup kept it spinning around as Toothless slowly set down on the ground again but never got off Toothless as the dragons suddenly stopped.
"Oh no..." Hiccup groaned, "Okay...Plan B...Toothless, do it!" Hiccup yelled pressing a spot on the back on Toothless's neck, his back spines split apart and took on a light blue glow all the way down his tail, his nostrils, top of his head and inside his mouth did the same. The Hooligan's watched with amazement at what they were seeing. Seeing the blue on Toothless now the dragons stayed higher up. "Ready Toothless?!" Hiccup asked, his dragon opened his mouth and charged a blue blast then fired it into the sky. The dragons all set down on the ground around him quietly. Hiccup and Toothless opened their mouth and gave a loud roar together, the Hooligan's had to cover their ears from the sound alone. However, what they saw was Toothless stomp his foot down and the dragons bowed their heads to him.
"Why...are they bowing to him?" Astrid asked.
"Because Toothless is an alpha species, considered a king among dragons. And no dragon can resist the alpha's command." Hiccup stated, "Tell them to leave Berk alone bud." Hiccup told his friend, Toothless growled motioned for the dragons to fly off and leave Berk alone from now on. They didn't argue, they took to the sky and flew off into the morning light. Hiccup lifted Inferno and extinguished the fire on the blade then retracted it. The blue glow on Toothless faded back to black and some lighter shades of gray. "Good work bud." Hiccup rubbed his friend's head then he coughed hard.
"How many times have I told you not to do that call, its strenuous on your vocal chords babe..." Sylvi sighed.
"Needed to be done. I'm fine..." Hiccup mumbled. "I thought I told Eret and your father to keep you in the cove until I gave the signal it was safe." Hiccup mentioned.
"Oh you did...I just don't listen." Sylvi gleamed. Hiccup face-palmed.
"Of course you don't...And you say I'm the stubborn one. I just had to marry the most stubborn girl in the Archipelago." Hiccup sighed.
"But you love me anyways." Sylvi said.
"That I do. So where are Eret and Audun now?" Hiccup asked.
"Cove with the girls, I rode daddy's dragon." Sylvi motioned to Flameburst behind her.
"Chief Hiccup..." Snotlout said, Hiccup faced him as Snotlout had his hand out for a shake. "Thank you for saving us. When we were in the water...and just now with the raid." Hiccup was surprised at first but he bowed his head and shook Snotlout's hand.
"Thank you for sending my mother to get me when you realized you couldn't handle it. A chief knows when he needs help and asks for it, he does all he can to protect his people. You recognized that, you're looking more and more like a chief." Hiccup told him.
"I'll agree to that." Stoick said, Hiccup and Snotlout looked at him now. "I was at a loss and you Snotlout...Took charge realizing there were only two options left. Fight and let their be bloodshed, or ask for help and you chose to ask for help and no one on either side was harmed." Stoick added.
"Well...I just...Why should we fight if we don't have too? Why should we kill them when they are just trying to survive like we are." Snotlout said, "They are just misunderstood creatures. Peace is possible, we just have to find another way." Hiccup grinned. That was something he had told Snotlout when he was training with him.
"You are ready." Stoick smiled.
"You mean...You're...making me chief o-of Berk?" Snotlout asked. Stoick nodded to him and Snotlout smiled wide.
"You have what it takes...I shouldn't of doubted your ability. Just as I shouldn't of doubted another man's, I should of known that when the time came, he'd be ready." Stoick looked at Hiccup now, "I am truly sorry I doubted you, Hiccup. I was a terrible chief to you, and a worse father. I used to tell your mother that you'd be the strongest of them all when you were a baby. I was blind to my own words and I see now that you always had it in you, I just refused to see it because you were different and I didn't accept that. I won't make the same mistake twice. Its high time for a change and I think...No I believe between you and Snotlout...The world will come to change too and there will be peace for all species, human and dragon alike." Stoick said firmly.
Hiccup stared at his former father, just as he was about to say something in reply there was a load roar heard from the ring. Toothless's head shot up quickly, "Toothless? What's wrong bud..." Hiccup asked looking to his friend, his eyes were on the ring. "The ring? Something there?" Toothless huffed with a worried croon, Hiccup looked to Stoick quickly before Toothless darted towards the ring, Hiccup followed. Everyone did actually. Hiccup entered the ring with Toothless who was sniffing around then stopped at one of the larger doors and growled. Hiccup put his hand on the lever and pulled it open, in the darkness was a dark dragon silhouette. It jumped out and Hiccup's eyes widened. Another Night Fury, it collapsed to the ground wounded.
Another one had never been found in years, Hiccup believed Toothless was the last of them. But here one was, judging by eye color which it had light purple eyes, this dragon was a female. Toothless crooned softly laying beside the wounded female, licking her wound and comforting her. It had been trapped in there, that wound was fresh as in hours ago. Hiccup's eyes went from shock to a narrowed glare while he faced Stoick. "Love...what's wrong?" Sylvi asked. His eyes never left Stoick's form.
"You're a god damn liar! I can't believe I almost fell for it and forgave you..." Stoick's eyes widened not understanding.
"Son...What are you...you talking about? I haven't...lied about anything." Stoick protested quickly. Hiccup turned revealing the wounded Night Fury beside Toothless. "I had nothing...to do with this."
"This is your village! Everything anyone does, has something to do with you! You were awake when the raids started! You saw them capture this Night Fury and lock it up, didn't you!?" Hiccup yelled. Stoick bit his bottom lip and nodded once. Hiccup clenched his fist now.
"Stoick...How could you...You promised Hiccup you wouldn't harm the dragons anymore..." Valka said quietly, in disbelief.
"I knew he wouldn't keep his word. Stoick the Vast capturing a Night Fury, he'd be legendary when that got out. He's been acting, like always. Acting when he doesn't give a damn." Hiccup scoffed, Stoick flinched at Hiccup's anger. "We leave now. Fishlegs, if you're coming then lets go. We don't associate with people who can't or refuse to change." Hiccup said.
"Yes sir." Fishlegs said as Audun motioned for Fishlegs to get on Flameburst. Sylvi took Thurmond from her father and got on Toothless as well. Hiccup faced the female Night Fury now, it growled at him.
"Its okay. I'm not going to hurt you...I'm not like them. I'm a friend to dragons..." Hiccup said softly with his hand out, the female eyed him then pressed her nose to his hand with a croon. "Come with us, you'll be safe...Nightstar." Hiccup told her, the Night Fury licked his cheek. Hiccup climbed on Toothless's back now and opened his tail, he glared at Stoick. "I knew you'd never change. Stoick Haddock doesn't change, he never has. And he never will." Hiccup spat out angrily. Alva had wrapped the Night Fury's wound and she was ready.
"Hiccup please...I didn't...mean for this to happen." Stoick said.
"I don't care anymore. I honestly just don't, I meant what I said that day 7 years ago when I left. I hate you. You will never change. My self exile remains, I will never return here. Wings up riders. We are done here." Hiccup stated giving the command with his hand for them to take off out of the ring, and they did so. When Nightstar was out, Hiccup faced Stoick a final time. "I will never forgive you for this. By the way, the treaty is void. If you come to my island, it will be war. But just remember...We have the dragons. Lets go Toothless." Hiccup said, Toothless roared and took off. Now leading the pack they were heading in the direction of Fury Isle.
"You really blew it this time, Stoick. And here I thought you were actually goin to change...Guess Hiccup wasn't the only one who got lied too." Gobber closed his eyes and hobbled away, Valka only shook her head and followed him. Astrid, Snotlout, Ruffnut, and Tuffnut did the same. Stoick only lowered his head now. Just as Gobber said, he really blew it this time and nothing would ever make it right.