42. A whole lot of truth

Hiccup was sitting in the village plaza, he was watching Toothless play with the tribes children once again. Today was the last day they had to spend at this side of the archipelago, taking a break from Berk was refreshing, but getting back to work was important. They had to work on the gang's overall battle tactics in the sky and that meant a stop at their base was necessary.

"Brother!" Dagur's voice came from behind him.

Hiccup turned to look at him, Dagur had a wide smile on his face. Hiccup was surprised to see him here again, as Dagur had left the day prior to get Heather and Hiccup thought that the Berserker chief would stay on his island and not come back to Defenders of the Wing.

"Dagur," Hiccup greeted him back. "What are you doing here?"

"I came back to speak to you. Don't worry, everyone on Berserk is on watch for any threats," he answered honestly, he looked around suspiciously before looking back at Hiccup. "Where's Storm?" He innocently asked.

"She flew back to the Wingmaidens to get descriptions of the ships they've been seeing before the attack," Hiccup explained with a smile.

Dagur gave a small nod and sat down next to Hiccup. Hiccup actually found it funny how Dagur was still cautious around Storm. When they first met, Dagur had hated Storm because she managed to hold the title of Hiccup's sister before Dagur had managed to get Hiccup to call him his brother. So at the time, according to Dagur, they became the greatest enemies. The whole situation was hilarious to Hiccup, because he got to watch how Dagur had been put back in his place time and time again.

"So," Dagur started after a moment of silence, "Does Stoick know?"

"Not yet," Hiccup told him with a small shrug, "Gobber and Astrid do."

"How did that happen?" Dagur asked with genuine interest.

"They figured it out by themselves," Hiccup gave a heartfelt chuckle, his smile brightening. The fact that even after five years people manage to recognize him warmed his heart.

"But Stoick didn't?" Dagur hesitantly probed.

Hiccup's smile fell, he tried hard not to think about the fact that his own father hadn't figured it out. He wouldn't feel this bad if Gobber hadn't figured it out just from his voice and mannerisms.

"Am I doing the right thing?" He quietly questioned, more so himself than Dagur. Dagur clapped a hand on his shoulder making Hiccup look at him.

"These kids," he began, gesturing to the children playing with Toothless, "Tell stories sometimes. Ulf and Frida are the favorite story tellers, only because they tell stories about you and Storm. You have become a role model for these kids, because of the choices you made. It may not feel like the right choice in the moment, but you and Storm always come out on top when you work together." Dagur gave his shoulder a squeeze. "So yes, you are doing the right thing."

"When did you become so wise?" Hiccup jokingly asked, a smile back on his face.

"Don't get used to it," Dagur warned with a laugh.

With one last squeeze the Berserker chief left Hiccup on his own. Hiccup kept watching the laughing kids, finding joy in seeing the happiness they radiated. It reminded Hiccup of the childhood he had before public image came into play, before associating with him became like a death sentence for all.

He stayed there for about an hour, it was enough time for the kids to disperse and Toothless to fall asleep curled up around him. Finally he saw Shadow circling the village, looking for a place to land. Hiccup stood up and Toothless opened one eye, seeing Shadow he fully woke up and sat down next to Hiccup.

"Hiccup!" Storm shouted from atop of Shadow, she quickly dismounted and ran towards him with a wide smile. "Look at what I've got!"

She showed a crudely drawn map in his face, a few hastily drawn arrows and crossed out islands were on the map. What surprised Hiccup a little was that Berk was on this map, the island was drawn in the corner of the overall map and it was crossed out like many other small islands.

"What is this?" he asked while studying the map, he had a hard time making sense of her drawings.

"This is the sighting map of the Dragon Rider," she was barely containing her excitement. "I talked to Atali about the whole looming war with Drago, and she told me about these sightings so we could maybe find the Rider and get their help."

"That is a good idea," Hiccup agreed, he frowned and awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, "I still don't understand the map." He hesitantly added.

"I'll re-draw it in a way you can understand later," Storm said with a roll of her eyes as she took the map from him and folded it up, placing it into her breast pocket.

They talked for a bit more and decided to leave while the sun was still out, because they wanted to reach Dragon Island the nest day and make round up some dragons before the gang came there.

They made a pit stop at their hideout and took some gear they thought they would need, and left their base behind for the time being. They weren't rushing to get back, they didn't feel like they needed to. The comfortable silence that sheltered them was welcomed, it reminded both of easier times, they didn't need to talk to understand each other and they were just happy to be in the others presence.

At midnight they were half way to their destination, the pair decided to stop on a nearby island to set up camp and spend the night. They made quick work of the camp, years of this made it so easy for them so they didn't even need to think about what they were doing.

They woke up before sunrise, years of doing so conditioning them. They left after a quick meal, flying above the clouds, enjoying the sunshine. The time flew by fast and they had Dragon Island in sight in the late afternoon. They flew a few laps around the island as they looked for schools of dragons of all of the most common species.

They split up and carefully made themselves known to the ones they found, that would make it easier for the gang to introduce their dragons later on. With their years of experience the process went smoothly and soon they had the trust of the dragons, but it still took some time. Enough time for the evening to come.

Hiccup met up with Storm near the beach they needed to meet up with the gang. The group was already there, if the voices coming from the beach was any indication.

"How much longer?" Came Ruffnut's whine.

"They'll be here," Eret assured her with a roll of his eyes.

"But it's boring!" Tuffnut whined and kicked a pebble that he found. "Are they purposely torturing us?"

"We're not," Hiccup remarked as they entered the clearing. They weren't wearing their helmets and Shadow and Toothless were trailing behind them.

The gang's eyes fell on Toothless as he sat behind Hiccup who stopped just inside the beach. Hiccup watched as a myriad of emotions crossed their faces until finally they settled on disbelief and shock.

"I want you all to meet Toothless," He said and gestured to the Night Fury who looked smug, an expression that was mirrored on Hiccup's face.

"That's a Night Fury," Fishlegs slowly stated, like he was having a hard time believing his own words.

"Yes he is," Hiccup agreed and crossed his arms. Storm and Astrid looked on with amused looks on their faces, Eret stood on the side, his face was full of confusion.

"His name is Toothless," Snotlout slowly added blinking a few times like he was trying to clear his mind.

"Yes it is," Hiccup patiently answered, and it all seemed to click in the gang's minds.

"Hiccup!?" the twins exclaimed at the same time, their eyes widening even more.

"Yeah," Hiccup answered with a shrug. His heart was pounding in his ears, yet he put on an unbothered front.

Only silence was heard for a few moments before everything seemed to explode.

"WHAT?"

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?"

"WHY DIDN'T I NOTICE?"

Was all Hiccup could make out, out of the jumbled mess of shouts. He pinched the bridge of his nose and sent a desperate look to Storm.

"It was your plan," she said raising her hands in surrender, making it clear that she won't help him this time.

He sent the same look to Astrid and only got an amused shake of her head in return, he also noticed Eret observing the situation with a lot of confusion. Finally, Hiccup looked at Toothless, who had been patiently sitting behind him the whole time, the dragon huffed and let out a loud roar, silencing the shouting.

"If you calm down, I'll explain everything," Hiccup told them calmly.

The group nodded and Hiccup went about explaining everything, it was getting quite annoying to do so, but it was necessary if he wanted them to understand his reasons.

"So you weren't responsible for the attack on Berk?" Tuffnut finally asked after Hiccup has explained his side of things.

"What attack?" Storm immediately questioned.

"A day after you left, Berk was attacked. It was a short attack and nothing was really harmed, but Stoick somehow got it in his head that you were responsible," Astrid explained with a pained smile. "Gobber and I have been trying to set him straight the best we can, but he isn't letting the idea go."

"But that shouldn't be a problem," Snotlout interrupted, "We'll just tell him who you are and he'll drop it!"

"No," Hiccup stated, "If he wants to believe lies, let him. We had nothing to do with it and if he won't believe us after we tell him what we were actually doing, then maybe he's not ready for the truth."

Hiccup's confident words made the gang pause. He was really set on not revealing himself until he wanted to. He asked them to keep him a secret and they agreed, even if they didn't want to. This was Hiccup's decision, and they would honor it, no matter what they thought. A friend's trust was the most important thing to them right now. Honoring the decision was easier when the friend had a Night Fury, a Skrill and two violent women on his side.