Confound Hiccup and his Dragon Riders!
Viggo stormed through camp, fists and jaw clenched. Torchlight hit half his face, glinted in his eyes, each time he passed a flame. His blood boiled despite the chill night. Anyone who saw him coming past their tent hurried out of sight.
Ten ships lost. Ten! Couldn't Hiccup's schemes be less costly? Curse the boy! Viggo's financial difficulties were getting far too out of hand thanks to him. The Hunters had barely managed to keep a single dragon the past few weeks; Now they had to worry about equipment, too.
The Hunter Chieftain planned to spend the night devising a trap for Hiccup stumble into. As clever as the boy had proved to be, he had a tendency to fall fool to the majority of Viggo's traps. However, he also had a tendency to escape them at the last second. This time there would be no opportunity to revel in victory once the youth had been captured. He must die, and die swiftly.
Viggo's tent stood apart from the rabble, up against the cliff out of the wind, and a stretch of grass with a well separated it from all the other dwellings. The well sat in darkness, just out of reach of the torches' flickering warmth. One Hunter looked up as he drew out a bucket of water, freezing like a frightened animal when he saw the veins popping on Viggo's temple. As his leader passed, he saluted and spilled all the water from his bucket over Viggo's side.
"Idiot!" Viggo spat. "How did someone as simple as you manage to remain in this operation?"
"Sorry sir!" The soldier trembled.
"Get out of my sight!"
"Yes sir!" He jumped and fled.
Seething, Viggo turned in the direction of his tent, his wet shirt clinging icily to his skin.
"Bad day, huh?"
Viggo halted, scowl carved on his face.
"You're definitely the angriest person I've seen all day."
"Whoever you are," Viggo whirled around, "show yourself this instant!"
"No thanks."
"I order you!" Where was that infernal voice coming from?
"Sorry man, I don't take orders."
Grinding his teeth, Viggo scanned for the voice's owner. Nobody was in sight. Hand near his sword, he checked behind boulders and the well itself. Still no one.
"Who are you?" Viggo said.
"A wishing well."
"Ha!" So this fool wished to toy with him. Well, Viggo wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing him angry. He tucked his hand behind his back, pride and curiosity calming him, as he wandered over to the mouth of the well.
"Perhaps you'd like to wish away some trouble? I can tell you've had a rough day."
He peered down the dark hole. A beam with a rope and bucket stretched across. He saw nothing else inside. "It is up to one's self to avoid and divert trouble."
"Yeah, sure, but who doesn't like a little help?"
There were multiple ways he could answer. Viggo felt a twinge of irritation. Where was that foul deluder?
"Do you wish to wish?"
"No."
"Come on! I know something is bugging you!"
"I only wish Hiccup Haddock were dead, and that you - !"
He didn't finish his sentence. The silence - the missing presence - was palpable.
For a few moments Viggo stood still. When nothing happened, he went to his tent, unsure of what had just occurred and unable to shake off a strange feeling that caused him to glance back over his shoulder every few paces.
"Viggo," someone hissed.
Viggo grunted, startled awake.
"Viggo!" the person whisper-yelled again, desperately.
Viggo leaped out of his cot and snatched up his sword in its sheath from his bedside only to stop in his tracks. No one was there. He moved to the entrance and pushed back the dragon skin. No person outside, either. He scowled, backing up, and let the flaps fall closed.
Something bumped the table behind him. Viggo spun on his heel. Nothing. Drawing his sword first, he lit a lamp, all the while glaring into each corner of the tent. The yellow light from the flame pushed back the shadows to reveal nothing out of the ordinary.
Right in front of his eyes, an ink jar jumped off the table and shattered against a stone on the ground.
Viggo stared.
The table moved as though something had bumped it.
"Who goes there?" His eyes widened. He grasped his sword in both hands, lamplight glinted off the rubies in its hilt.
Hiccup materialized out of thin air. "Viggo, I - "
Viggo swung his sword. The blade phased right through the boy! What in Odin's - ?
"Viggo! What's going on?" Hiccup cried.
"I demand you give me the answer to that same question!" Viggo grew furious at how shaken he felt. He kept the tip of his blade pointed at his enemy, yet knowing full well it was futile. He could see the light from the lantern and the edge of the table through Hiccup's leather armour. No weapon could damage something intangible.
"I don't know! All I know is that I'm - " he choked, "a ghost."
"Why are you here?" Viggo's eyes were wide. He'd never put faith in the supernatural before, yet here Hiccup stood. A ghost. Dead.
He must be dreaming. Yet he felt quite awake.
"You gotta help me." Hiccup's face twisted in anguish. "I don't know what to do, I don't know what in Thor's name is going on, I need to get back to Toothless."
"Calm yourself, my dear Hiccup. Your excitement is quite pathetic." In saying this, Viggo tried to both assert and calm himself. He resisted the urge to shake.
"Calm down? Do you have any idea how freaked out I am?" Hiccup yelled, gesturing wildly. "I had to hide MY OWN BODY while trying to keep Toothless from waking the entire archipelago, and then I find out it's your fault I'm dead and I have to HAUNT you!"
"You're really dead." Viggo lowered his sword.
"Yeah! Thanks to you apparently."
Viggo stepped back a pace and allowed himself to sink deep in thought. So whatever had been in that well had told the truth, and when he had wished for Hiccup's demise he'd unwittingly caused just that. His most pressing problem solved with a few simple words. This shouldn't be possible. He glanced over at Hiccup's ghost. Unless he was dreaming...
A weight lifted off him, leaving him feeling more at ease than he'd felt in weeks. He perched on the edge of his cot and his lips turned up in a small smile. He could feel Hiccup glare at him, which made a laugh bubble up in his throat.
"Ah, things have finally turned out for the better."
"No they most certainly have not!"
"My main adversary is dead, and without their leader your dragon riders are as good as defeated." He released a large sigh and stood. "Yes, I think events have turned out quite well." He stepped past the ghost and over to his desk in order to prepare new instructions for the morning.
Hiccup had gone silent. Viggo studied the fear, rage, confusion, and realization playing unchecked across his face. He'd never seen him in such a way before, but this was no normal situation, and that was putting it mildly. Though Viggo understood his nemesis' reaction, he found he disapproved of it. Still... the boy was dead, and clearly traumatized. He supposed he could be a bit more sympathetic.
He busied himself with pen and parchment. "Try to enjoy your spiritual freedom, Hiccup. Our battles must have been a strain on you, as they were on me. It will soon be over."
Hiccup grabbed his wrist and Viggo snorted in disgust at the resulting ink blot on the page. He tried to pull away but Hiccup held him fast. He could see his wrist thought the ghost's opaque hand.
"How are you doing that?" he asked.
"I'm not going to let you get away with this."
"My dear Hiccup, you are DEAD. I've ALREADY gotten away with this." He again tried to pull free.
"Tell me what you did."
Viggo sighed loudly. "Release me first."
Hiccup let go of his wrist and Viggo tucked it behind his back. It felt ice cold.
"Now what did you do?" Hiccup's scowl didn't waver.
"Merely voiced my frustration, if I'm being honest. It was bizarre. I heard a voice but saw no one. Another spirit perhaps? He - it - claimed it could take away my burden and I wished you dead."
"You always think of me so easily?"
"You destroyed three months worth of profit today."
Hiccup smirked. His eyes were finally calming down. Slowly he started to look like his old self.
Determined and cautious, Viggo noted. And perhaps contempt.
"So..." Hiccup started. His slight opaqueness gave off the appearance he was trapped behind glass. Just as subtle and just as unnerving was the lack of breath. The air around him seemed unnaturally still. "... we just need to find this guy and tell him to get me back."
Viggo threw back his head and laughed. "Oh Hiccup!" He wiped away a tear. "Thank you for that! Ah... He came to me. He's long gone. And death is IRRIVERSABLE."
Hiccup put on an unimpressed frown, but fidgeting hands betrayed his true emotions. He rolled his eyes. "Just tell me where you found him."
"The camp well." Viggo said.
Footsteps silent, Hiccup stormed toward the tent entrance flaps and vanished before he reached them. The flaps never moved.
Viggo had been working at his desk for a few minutes when the boy literally popped back into view. Viggo jumped, then cursed himself, resisting the urge to put a hand over his beating heart.
"Back so soon?"
Hiccup said nothing and paced the floor in silence.
It took several hours, but by the end of the night Viggo seriously missed the time he hadn't been haunted by a peg-legged Dragon Rider.
Rest was out of reach. The ghost paced non-stop, walked through walls, and searched through his stuff. Keeping Hiccup away from important papers was near impossible. Sleep was unattainable.
Viggo had a splitting headache.
Even though it hurt to keep his eyes open, he couldn't bear the thought of closing them. Not with a spirit in the room.
"Hiccup," he said, massaging between his eyes and leaning back in his chair. "I recommend, for the benefit of us both, that you cease this tiresome behavior."
"Just doing my job, remember?" Hiccup grumbled, pacing like a caged dragon. Ghosts didn't need sleep.
"You're running yourself into the ground emotionally," Viggo reasoned. "Step away. Check on your dragon perhaps."
"I CAN'T!" he screamed. His outline flickered. He kicked the Maces and Talons table over. "I'm stuck here! I can't leave! I already tried. I'm just teleported back." Face twisted, he whirled on the desk and swiped everything off. Viggo was too tired to do anything but watch it all crash to the ground. With another yell, Hiccup began to knock over anything he came into contact with.
Soon the tent was in shambles and Hiccup stood in the center of it with his back to Viggo, eerily still, not breathing.
"Are you done?" Viggo asked tiredly.
"I hate you," Hiccup hissed.
Viggo managed a weak smirk.
Hiccup floated through the wall of the tent. The Hunter Chief stared at the spot he'd vanished, but minutes passed and he didn't reappear. He couldn't be far - the spell didn't allow him to wander - but for now the tent was ghost free.
With a relieved sigh, Viggo picked up a few things (his Maces and Talons first and foremost), and stretched out on his cot. Sleep claimed him as soon as he shut his eyes.
"Wake up, brother."
The sensation of being dragged from sleep physically hurt. Ryker stood in the tent's entrance. Viggo sat up and rubbed his face in an attempt to wipe away the drowsiness. It felt like he'd only slept for a few minutes. Pale grey light told how early it was.
"What in hell happened here?"
"What of it?" Viggo grumbled, dreading getting to his feet.
"We have a situation." Ryker's tone was heavily serious.
Whatever it is can't possibly top my current predicament.
"This had better be important."
"It's the treasury. The gold, everything, all gone."
The shock that punched his exhausted system left Viggo dizzy. His heart missed a beat. He stared.
"What!?"
"The door was open," Ryker looked disturbed. "I looked inside and it was empty. Every coin gone."
The entire Hunter fortune gone? They would be ruined. But how... Viggo stood, a wave of lightheadedness threatening to knock him over, and he clenched his fists to keep himself upright. Dawning realization poured fuel on his fury.
"HICCUP!"
I'm writing something besides Ninjago! What?! But for years HTTYD was my main fandom; the fics just stayed on paper for the most part.
This story is dedicated to once of my sisters. Viggo is her favourite character, and I'm sure she's read EVERY fanfic he's ever been in, but the majority aren't Viggo centered and most are... well, not very good. XD Hopefully this one is! Some parts especially were a joy to write, and actually had ME laughing at how crazy they were.
Originally I planned to write this as a one-shot, but since I'm a sucker for detail, the plot kept getting longer and I decided to split it into parts. Chapter 2 comes out next week!
I hope you enjoy, sis! And to anyone else reading, I hope you enjoyed and think I did this underappreciated villain justice.
