After The War Ch1

The beautiful bittersweet vision of the dragons flying away over the sparkling ocean still haunted his mind.

It would stay with him, he knew, for as long as he lived.

It would stay with Berk for longer than he lived.

His children would hear the stories of the dragons. His grandchildren. His great-grandchildren.

They would understand why he had to let them go. For their freedom, their lives.

He had long preached that dragons had a mind of their own, and were great, legendary creatures who shouldn't ever be enslaved or chained. He himself had prevented this numerous times.

Yet in a sense he had chained his own. Even unknowingly he had trapped his dragon to the ground. Only with a human could he be released. Unable to fly without a human-made prosthetic, his dragon was bound with an irreversible mistake.

Of course, his dragon didn't mind it. He loved his human, who fed him every day and kept him company. Who flew him whenever he had time and loved him back.

Who knew this would come from a dragon like him, cunning and clever enough to have bombed Berk hundreds of times and never be caught?

Except for one time.

When a young boy his age, with a similar soul, shot him down over a decade ago. Longing for acceptance in his own village, he had set out with a carefully made machine, designed to bring down man's greatest enemy.

The single bola that caught the Night Fury would change the lives of the entire archipelago, when the first dragon and human bonded. They created a mutual, loving relationship. Then thousands of bonds were created, though none as close as the very first.

But how long would they last?

Hiccup sat on the edge of his lumpy gray cot. Quiet tears trickled down his face as he stared at the dry dirt floor of his tent.

Astrid and Valka had taken him there, after they gently tugged him away from the cliff. He had been standing on his one sore leg for over an hour, with exhaustion threatening to take him over. They had taken his arms and led him to his tent, where he, numb with fleeting emotions, let them take care of his village.

Now he sat on the edge of the bed, filled with the worst kind of remorse, shock, and sadness.

His head buzzed with mixed emotions. Why had he let them go? Why was he doubting his decision? Could the dragons get back safely?

What would happen now?

He thought of impossible, never ending questions until he succumbed to tiredness, collapsed on his bed, and slept.

Hiccup slept for hours. His dreams were filled with dragons, the Berk he grew up on and New Berk's villagers, pummeling him with questions and accusations. He whirled in and out of nonsense dreams, with flight suits, tail prosthetics, and giant crossbows.

When he finally woke up, weary and red- eyed, it was early in the morning. Sitting up, he rubbed his eyes and tried to stretch.

He hissed when he moved his stump onto the bed, as there was a fierce burning sensation on it. He carefully peeled off part of his stump guard, a leather boot with fur, made by Astrid so his stump wouldn't irritate.

His leg was scarlet and deep welts appeared from pressing into his prosthetic. This always happened to him after intense fighting or training. He touched the red skin and instantly recoiled when his leg seemed to scream in agony.

He gripped the edges of his bed and tried not to make a sound. He was panting with pain when Astrid quietly opened his tent flap.

She stepped inside and her eyes went wide. "Hiccup!"

Hiccup nodded wryly. "I know." She hurried over to him and knelt beside his leg. Examining it, she looked up and asked," How much does it hurt?"

Hiccup groaned. "A lot."

She nodded nervously and told him," I'll go get something from Gothi, hang in there." She ran outside, and Hiccup noticed that her face was tinged pink.

He felt slightly guilty for not thinking of how sad Astrid must be. They had only spoken in hurried sentences, but he could still tell. Her relationship with Stormfly was close to Toothless's and his. She had gotten up early every morning so she could have some alone time with her. Trained non-stop with her, and spent all her time polishing her saddle for her.

He moved his leg again and his vision went cloudy for a second. He groaned again and leaned back against his bedstead, resting his head on his tent pole.

Astrid came in with a small jar of blue liquid. "Gothi told me that you should put this on your leg."

Hiccup nodded. He reached for the jar, and Astrid gave it to him. He gently dabbed on the cool medicine while Astrid heated up a bucket of warm water on coals nearby and sat next to him.

"Are— you alright?" She scanned his face for signs of discomfort.

Hiccup turned his head to look at her, and softly replied," I'm fine."

They sat there, waiting for the water to boil, and Hiccup felt a growing tension between the two. Desperate to break it, he leaned over and kissed Astrid on the cheek. She responded with a small smile, and leaned her head on his shoulder.

The water eventually boiled, foaming and threatening to spill over. Astrid dipped a clean rag into it, and when it was comfortable, she gently wrapped his sore leg with it.

"Is that better?" She asked anxiously.

Hiccup smiled. The throbbing sensation had gone away, and he only felt the slightest discomfort against the warmth. "Yes, thank you."

Astrid bit her lip. "You sure?"

This time, he knew she was asking about more than his leg. His heart seemed to sink and his voice caught. "I..." He choked. "No, no I'm not."

He leaned his elbows on his knees and buried his face in his hands. His eyes began to water again, as he tried to control himself. He tried to push away the horrible sensations in him, but when he looked up again and got lost in Astrid's clear blue eyes, he lost control.

He sobbed like a child, mourning the loss of his best friend. Astrid sat quietly next to him, rubbing his shoulder. Neither realized that Astrid's eyes were watering.

He lifted his head and looked at Astrid, raising a hand to dry her tears. He rested a hand on her shoulder, and seeing her face break again, tugged her closer.

They sat together for longer than they cared to know, silently mourning.

When the lunch bell rang, Astrid lifted her head with a start. Her tired voice asked," Who's ringing the bell?"

Hiccup raised his head and questioned," Was someone supposed to?"

Astrid nodded. "I asked some who could handle it to take care of necessities. Hoark asked to do food, but-"

He finished her sentence for her. "It's too early for lunch, and—

She nodded. "We left all three bells on Berk. I'm going to go ask what's going on." She gestured to his leg. "Do you think you can do it? Or would you want me to go?"

He took off the towel. His leg was a natural color, albeit slightly swollen. He nodded, and Astrid jumped up and took his spare leg from his bag. Wrapping his stump guard back over his leg, she tugged his leg on and tied it securely into place.

She held out a hand and pulled him up. With a small gesture of her head, she led the way out of his tent.

The sunlight blinded him momentarily, and when he blinked it off, he saw Hoark, an old villager, ringing the large rusted lunch bell. Hoark stood in the middle of the grassy main clearing around some large pots with a few villagers milling around him with wooden plates.

Astrid stepped forward. "Hoark, where did you get the bell?"

Hoark looked apologetic. "Apologies, ma'am." He replied in his deep, Scottish accent. "Couldn't find the mornin bell, had to make do with this. Found it on the grass next to ya tent, Hiccup."

Hiccup frowned. "That's alright. But the breakfast bell..."He trailed off.

Hiccup remembered that they had left the bells on Berk, deeming them too cumbersome to bring to the Hidden World. Of course, they hadn't gone to the Hidden World to live at all. He finished his sentence. "We left them in Berk, didn't we?"

Astrid nodded, but her face still held confusion. "I thought we left all three bells on Berk."

Hiccup walked over to Hoark. "May I?" He held out his hand. Hoark gave him the bell. Hiccup turned it over in his hand, trying to remember what the old lunch bell looked and felt like.

On the inside of the bell he found the unmistakable Berk crest. He handed it to Astrid, who had walked up behind him.

His mind went into chief mode. Over the past year, he had gotten very good at making difficult decisions and handling difficult people. Namely, Snotlout and the twins.

"We'll just use this for now. Shouldn't be any harm, although I'm fairly certain they were left on Berk. He shrugged. "Hoark, can you get the villagers their food?"

Hoark nodded and took the bell from Astrid. He covered his ear and began to ring the bell loudly.

Wincing from the noisy clanging, he and Astrid stepped away from the clearing. They sat down next to a tree.

Hiccup asked," Do you think the bell was just accidentally brought along?" In his mind, this seemed like the only possible way, however unlikely.

Astrid shrugged. "I mean, it is the only way it could have gotten here. But we can't worry about that. What are we going to do now?"

Hiccup realized how much he had dreaded this question, letting out a deep sigh. "I'm really not sure."

Astrid placed a hand on his knee. "Well, how about right now, we try to keep the village running as well as possible? Without... them."

Hiccup nodded briskly, trying not to remember how they had left. "Sounds good. We can..." His mind sprung into action, thinking of all the possible things they could do.

Astrid rested her head on his shoulder. For a moment they just sat there, thinking.
After a few minutes, Hiccup's mind turned on a lightbulb.

"What if we went back to Berk?"

Astrid bolted straight up. "What?" She asked incredulously. "Go back to Berk?!"

Hiccup said,"But it makes sense! All our stuff is there! We wouldn't have to rebuild, or do any work! It's all there!" He gestured wildly with his hands, becoming more animated and excited by the second.

Astrid looked at him with a face of quiet dread. "Valka didn't tell you, did she?" Hiccup noticed the look on her face and stopped moving. "What do you mean?"

Astrid opened her mouth, then closed it. She faltered for a second before gently saying,"Valka and I went on a patrol, a day after we moved here. We went to Berk first, to see how it was. When we got there..."

Hiccup stared at her with an increasing sense of dread. "What?" He whispered, sure he already knew the answer.

Astrid swallowed and continued. "Grimmel had burned it all down." She said in a quick breath.

Hiccup's mouth fell open and stayed that way. Berk was gone. Burned down. All of it.

His childhood home. Where he was born. Where he grew up. Where he found Toothless...

He let out a shuddering breath. "Okay. Okay. Umm. That's... fine. I can deal with that."

He continued on. "We can- well our only option is to stay here. We can't go anywhere else so..."

Astrid watched him. "We'll stay here and live here. It's no big deal. We can build. We have all our villagers."

Hiccup nodded. "Yes. We can do that." Astrid sighed. She rarely saw Hiccup like this, slightly disorganized. He was always the confident leader. "Hey, it's okay to be sad."

Hiccup didn't reply.

When the line for food died down, Hiccup and Astrid waited their own turn and accepted steaming bowls of hot soup. The soup smelled appetizing, with hints of salt and tomatoes.

They sat down next to the table of dragon riders, Fishlegs, Snotlout, Valka, Eret, and the twins. Gobber had been put in charge of the water supply by Astrid.

Everyone was quiet, each hating the silence yet not wanting to break it. The only sounds were the clinking of spoons and splash of soup.

Even Tuffnut and Ruffnut were subdued, poking at their soup and occasionally sharing sorrow glances. Hiccup noticed that Snotlout and Fishlegs had taken off their helmets, and everyone wore no armor, just regular clothes.

Hiccup knew someone would have to break the silence. This group was his main council, he had to talk with them about what to do before he could make any momentous decisions.

He drained the last few drops from his bowl. After wiping his mouth, he tried to think of a way to start.

"So." They all looked up. "Astrid and I were talking about how we need to get the village back on track. We could start by rebuilding, and—"

Snotlout grunted. "Why are we worrying about that? I thought this place was temporary, we can just go back to Berk!"

Hiccup and Astrid shared a glance. He didn't think that they would bring this up so quickly. Astrid's eyes met Valka's.

Valka sat down next to them. "I'm sorry, Astrid. I thought it would be best to tell them after this all was over."

Astrid nodded. "It's okay, I understand. Should I tell them, or—"

Tuffnut interrupted her. "Tell us what? Something crazy like Berk burned down?" He chuckled with Ruffnut.

Astrid drew in a breath and Tuffnut instantly stopped laughing. He looked shocked.

"Are you saying it did?" Tuffnut stared at her. So did everyone else, besides Hiccup and Valka, who nervously looked at the ground.

Astrid nodded hesitantly. Looks of pure shock flitted over everyone's faces. Eret dropped his mug, and Fishlegs's spoon fell from his hand.

Hiccup, wanting to take the attention away from the skittish-looking Astrid, intervened. "We've discussed that, and yes, it would have been amazing to go back. But we can't go all the way back with every villager, and we'd have to rebuild there."

Eret picked up his mug. "So, mate, you're saying we'll have to rebuild here?"

Hiccup nodded. "Yes, that's what I'm saying. It's really our only option."

Valka sighed. "I guess you're right. I'll miss it, though."

Hiccup remembered how Valka, out of all of them here, must miss Berk the most. She had grown up there, married there, and had a son.

Everyone else had only grown up there, and Eret had only spent about a year. No one had created a family, or gotten married...

His thoughts drifted to Astrid, and how insistent Tuffnut had been during the past few weeks about marriage. Although Hiccup and Astrid were already betrothed, Astrid had made it clear she wanted to wait a while before marrying each other.

He shook his mind out of the clouds. "Well, we would need to get started on building efforts. Maybe today, we can just start exploring the remote sides of this island? We've really only stayed in this area."

Fishlegs nodded. "We should get to know our area better before settling down here."

Astrid started thinking. "Maybe we can send a few teams out. We're on the east side, so we would need teams for west, north, and south."

Snotlout put his hand up. "Dibs on north!"

Everyone looked at him questioningly, until he shrugged and said," I saw a hot spring over there."

Hiccup groaned. "Snotlout, this is a exploration mission! We don't have time to relax in a hot spring! Do you remember what happened that last time you guys did that?"

Everyone grimaced at the memory of the strange island, where soaking in a hot spring had eventually led to most of them and their dragons eventually passing out, and a creepy man and an erratic boy had revealed themselves to be part dragon. They certainly didn't want to go through that again.

Snotlout replied," Ok, fine. But I still really wanna go north!"

Astrid asked him with a grin on her face," Well, what about that time when I had to save you from the Wingmaidens and you forgot which way was north?"

Hiccup laughed. "Hey, you didn't tell me about that!"

Snotlout crossed his arms. "Shut up, Astrid." He mumbled.

Hiccup chuckled. "Well, you can go north. How many others do you think should go?"

They carried on brainstorming until they came to a conclusion. Four riders would be on each team. They had to ask the auxiliary team to join, or else there wouldn't be enough. For north, Snotlout, Fishlegs, and Bucket and Mulch. For south, Astrid, Gothi, and the twins. For west, Gustav, Hiccup, Valka, and Eret. Gobbler was asked to take care of the village while they were gone, and to take care of it better than the last time.

They would depart the day after, leaving after breakfast and coming back in time for dinner. At dinner, they would talk over the results.

After the meeting, Hiccup and Astrid ran around, deciding that Hiccup would take care of one half, and Astrid the other. Hiccup raced around and helped with all sorts of things. He had to help birth a baby cow, calm down some Vikings who were saddened by the loss, and most of all had to encourage his village to get up and moving.

He stood on a crate and gave out orders. Some replied eagerly, although most grumpily moved with snail speed.

"Come on, Hargr! There's no need for a face like that!" He called out to a surly villager. "You should have a face that's ready to chop some more wood! Yeah, that came out wrong."

Hargr slung his axe over his shoulder and tromped away with a grumpy look on his face.

A hand tapped his arm, and he looked down to see Astrid. He smiled and hopped off the crate.

Astrid smiled back. "I just finished all my duties. Are you done yet?"

Hiccup looked over the crowd, and found that it had significantly decreased. The only people left were already heading off to their jobs. He looked back toward Astrid. "Yup, I think I'm done."

Astrid beamed. "Do you want to take a walk?" Hiccup nodded, and they walked out of the village. They bypassed the last few trees and bushes, and emerged onto a sandy beach stretching out onto a beautiful clear ocean.

Hand in hand, they walked along the shoreline in peaceful silence, listening to the cheerful chirping of birds.

Hiccup enjoyed gazing at the calm ocean, although he felt that there was something familiar about it. They walked for a while before coming into a canyon, with a pool of deep water in the middle.

Hiccup sucked in a breath. This was wee Toothless had tried to impress the Light Fury.

Astrid had turned to face him. "What is it?"

Hiccup nodded toward the beach. "That's where he saw the Light Fury."

Astrid spun around and stared at the sand where he had gestured. The sand was still slightly messed up from Toothless's drawing.

He silently led her over to the drawing, their shoes sinking in the soft surface. They stood around the Light Fury's face.

Hiccup looked at Astrid, expecting her to ask when this had happened, or how he knew what had happened here. Instead he eyes were full of soft sympathy.

They sat down on the sand. Not wanting to cry, Hiccup pulled Astrid closer. She leaned on him and rested her head on his chest.

"It's okay to be sad. We all are." She said carefully. "You don't have to carry this inside yourself. We're going to understand."

Hiccup sighed and kissed her on the head. "Thank you."

The next day, Hiccup woke up as the sun rose, determined to get a start on preparing for the journey. He spent an hour readying everyone's saddlebags with extra food, camping supplies, and emergency flares. When he got to his own, he realized that they had no need for saddlebags.

He rested his head on his hands. He would have to redo them all to be put into hand held bags. He also realized the emergency dragon nip he always packed and the extra cod wouldn't be necessary. He soberly replaced them with blankets and matches. The thought that with dragons, they could've mapped the whole island in an hour also crossed his mind.

By mid-morning, everyone was awake. Gobber was left with strict instructions not to destruct a ship and consult someone before naming a baby girl Magnus.

Each team would take note of resources, animals, and landscape along their routes. If possible, they would circle the boundaries of their direction and then head inside the area.

Hiccup noticed that the twins and Snotlout were being far more agreeable then they usually were. He assumed it was either lack of enthusiasm, or they seemed more annoying with their dragons.

Fishlegs struggled with keeping from blurting out random facts about dragons. Having been a dragon nerd all his life, and suddenly having to conceal it, proved difficult and many times he slapped his hand over his mouth.

He strapped on his bag and made sure all other teams were ready. When everyone was situated, he led his team into the west grassland. When they were knee-deep into the dry grass, he turned and saw the other teams disappearing into their areas. The south team trekked into the thick woods, and the northern team hiked over the open field.

He turned back and followed Gustav, Eret, and Valka to the edge of the plain. When they had walked a few minutes, the grass suddenly shot up. Gustav, being the shortest, was dwarfed by the tall stalks. Hiccup, Valka, and Eret could barely see past a few feet in front of them.

Eret shouted," Oy, Chief! I don't think it's a good idea to go any further into this. We could very well get lost."

Hiccup yelled back," I agree. Come back here for a second, we'll regroup and decide what to do."

Eret and Gustav trudged back to Valka and Hiccup. "Well." Gustav stated. "You know that old rhyme? About the cave?"

They looked at him blankly. He looked at each face. "Come on! You've gotta have heard it! If ya can't go through, over, or under, you've gotta go around! Following long so far?"

Hiccup could only nod before he rambled on. "So, we've gotta go around this! See, we can map the outsides and see how large it is. It's not going to go on forever."

Hiccup considered the merit of this idea. They really had no other choice. "Okay, Gustav. We can use your plan. Who's got the blank map?"

They carried on around the grass in this manner until they had rounded the corner. When the grassland stopped, they came across a landscape of gray cliffs and rocks. Each tall spike of stone stood frighteningly high, much taller than any of them.

Hiccup and Eret walked up to one. They tapped on it, and when it seemed sound, Hiccup chipped off a part from the spike. He would have Gobber test it. It could be of some use.

In this case, they could go through it. Carefully stepping over loose fragments of rock, they threaded their way through the land. When they finally came to the end of the stone, they arrived upon a rocky beach stretching out onto the ocean. Hiccup wondered if this beach led to the canyon where he and Astrid had visited yesterday.

Valka tapped him on the shoulder. "I think this is as far west as we can go, dear. The others are taking those areas." She pointed to the north side.

"Okay." He called out to the other two. "How about we rest here and take some notes, then we head back?"

Eret and Gustav nodded. Eret strode over to the water's edge, and Gustav promptly shook out his blanket and collapsed on it.

Hiccup sighed. The thrill of adventure had died away, now that they had gone as far as they dared. Now pressure crushed his mind. He had packed some chiefly work, for moments like this but he hadn't anticipated all this free time.

If he could call it free time with the staggering amount of papers and decisions he still had to make. These had been left over from the before the battle started. He would have to redo many of these, considering the recent changes.

He sat down on a flat rock and pulled out the first document from a elderly villager who wished to have a funeral arranged just in case. His heart sunk. He grimly read the document. The villager wanted a burning at sea, with all his possessions on a wooden boat that would be custom made and flew out by dragon. Hiccup crossed out the dragon and custom-made boat parts. The villager would have to settle for a normal boat that had no more use.

He scanned over three more documents such as these. He started to get a headache, and he put the papers down and rubbed his forehead.

Valka walked over from where she had been taking notes of the plant life. "All right, Hiccup?"

He sighed. "I still have so many papers to do for chiefly work. I've only gotten through about an eighth."

Valka sat down. Her eyes had a faraway look. "Did you know" She started off. "I often thought that your father, when I met his again a year ago, looked very tired? I could tell, even though I had left for two decades. He seemed angrier."

Hiccup sat up with interest as Valka continued. "When I got back to Berk, I asked several people who knew Stoick in the old days about the change, and they agreed. They said that after I had left, he grew slightly moodier, you see, and very tired."

Hiccup pondered this. "What are you trying to say?"

Valka placed a hand on his knee. "I'm saying, that when I left and your father had to lead alone, it got harder for him. The role of chief isn't meant to be for one person. It's meant to be for a ruling couple, a chief and his chieftess."

Hiccup now grasped what she meant. "Mom, Astrid and I discussed this! She doesn't want to get married right now, we agreed on later."

"And how long ago was that?"

"Maybe half a year."

"Exactly. This is later now, Hiccup! And it's a good time, to cement our village here and to help recover. And you need Astrid. More than you may realize."

Hiccup groaned. "Yes, I suppose all that is true, but we need to take Astrid's feeling into account too! I'm definitely not going to force her into a marriage she doesn't want."

Valka asked him," Do you want it?"

Hiccup went silent. Would he want to marry Astrid? Spend the rest of his life with her?

"Yes."

"Then you should ask her. I mean," She said with a knowing smile. "I already asked her about it, and she seemed on board with the idea."

She walked away, while Hiccup gaped at her. Astrid had already talked with her? And she was okay with it?

Their group eventually left the rocks and trekked back to the village. There, they saw that they were the second to arrive. Snotlout, Fishlegs, and Bucket and Mulch's team had arrived. They all sat around a table. Hiccup pulled out some notes of his.

"Maybe we should start comparing notes to see what we got. We can wait for them in between." Fishlegs nodded and pulled out a notebook.

He passed his notes to Fishlegs, and had just started to examine Fishleg's findings when he heard Tuffnut shout.

"Hey, they beat us!" Hiccup looked up and saw the south team tramping back from the woods. "We though we would get back first!"

Gothi, Astrid, and Ruff and Tuff arrived at the table and sat down. Astrid slid over to where Hiccup sat, where he slid an arm over her shoulders. She smiled and pecked him on the cheek. "How did it go?"

Hiccup nodded toward the others. "I'll tell you everything after I give a report." Astrid nodded, and he found himself thinking about Valka had said. Did she really want to marry him?

He turned to the group. "Okay, let's talk about the findings."

The north side had discovered that there really were hot springs, and many of them were suitable for bathing in, and perhaps as a last resort if the water supply ever ran out. Some of the pools, however, had dangerous eels and poisonous fungi they would have to stay away from.

The north team also found that the field in which they had started had wild hay and some miscellaneous vegetables that would be very useful as farming.

The south side's forests went on for acres, and they had had to skim the edges of it so they could get across in time. They were thickly wooded, and the trees were tall and strong. That could be essential in building. They also stumbled upon several wild sheep and boats, which they could capture and use as farm animals.

Hiccup had Gobber test the piece of rock he had chipped off, and he announced it was a new kind of stone he had never encountered before, but was very strong. If they could find a way to melt it, it might have undiscovered properties they could mold into different things.

The grassland seemed unlikely to be of any use for food, but as feed for animals it would be very useful. It could also be used as fuel in the winter. The rocky beach, upon further investigation by Gustav, had many cod and salmon.

The island proved to be a very prosperous place. They would easily build a new village here on Berk.

They all dearly missed Old Berk, which they had taken to calling it, where all their lives had been spent. But they knew that this was a time for new beginnings. Everything had changed, there were plentiful opportunities. Berk would survive. Berk would prosper. Berk would begin again.

There were endings, for sure, but nothing truly ends.

Not even the age of the dragons.

Thanks for reading! I always appreciate reviews.

~ScribeOfTheLegends