Looks like we're on a roll, guys! :)
Chapter Forty: After All These Years
By the time Hiccup returned to Berk, dozens of trader ships had already docked. Matrons and people were unloading them as soldiers waited by the forge. When Hiccup appeared in the sky upon Toothless, he looked down over his village and felt his heart soar in the air with him when he saw barrels rolling up to his hungry villagers, and soldiers training in the fields again. People looked up and pointed at the Night Fury, who dove and landed gracefully in front of the Great Hall.
"Hiccup has returned!" a villager cried. Everyone else landed behind him. Cauli immediately left to the field to meet the soldiers and Netmug and Rose went to the Hangar. Hiccup stiffly dismounted and sighed, exhausted from his trip. Stoick pushed through the crowd and met Hiccup on the top stair, embracing him warmly.
"You said a week or two. Not two weeks and three days."
Hiccup shrugged a shoulder and smiled. "We chose to try for a few more traders. But we should have enough supplies to get us off the ground and armed. You look good," he noted.
Stoick had lost most of his weight when he was sleeping, but two weeks of eating more meat than he could ever handle managed to bring his mass up slightly, and he looked less sickly.
"Thanks. I've been lifting my sword every day a thousand times, so I at least have my sword arm back in a decent place. Small steps."
Hiccup smiled again, but something pained him in the back of his mind.
"I, uh… I realized after we left that we never held a memorial for Snowdrop…"
Stoick's smile faltered and he cleared his throat. "I know… we can hold one tonight after the village eats. We don't have a boat to spare, but…"
"Anything will be perfect," Hiccup said, his voice cracking. He took a deep breath and his dad smiled at him sadly. The thought of Snowdrop dying in the cold ocean made his heart ache beyond explanation. He took a deep, shaky breath and stepped away from his father. He turned to the village and met the villagers on the steps. Every one was happy to see him returned, and he greeted everyone fondly.
"Pa!"
Hiccup watched Swamplout shoved past the villagers in the Great Hall, his tiny arms reaching for Snotlout. Snoutlout jumped off Hookfang and crouched, arms outstretched, as Swamplout crashed into him. Snotlout buried his face in Swamplout's shoulder and he breathed in the scent of his son. The child pulled away to kiss his father on the nose, and Snotlout held his son's cheek, smiling with completely and total adoration and love.
"You were gone for such a long time," Swamplout complained.
"I'm home now, son," he said. "Did you lose another tooth?!"
Hiccup swallowed painfully and walked past them, keeping his face down. He tried to not think about it, but the memory of losing his child loomed in the back of his mind.
It will not be in vain, Toothless said soothingly. When we get Astrid back, you can have that family.
Hiccup nodded stiffly. "I know bud… it's still hard."
Toothless bumped his arm with his snout, and Hiccup absentmindedly scratched him behind the fins. He looked to the docks as more and more people flooded up the Berkian hills towards the Great Hall. Dragons slithered about back and forth, sniffing at the scared newcomers.
They finally had enough people to attack, Hiccup thought, his heart skipping a beat. The final days of hiding were nearing an end; he would be flying out within the next few weeks to finally get Astrid out.
One of the patrolling riders landed in front of Hiccup, making him jump and stumble back. "Hiccup, we have a problem," he said quickly, roughly.
"What is it?" Hiccup asked, his heart skipping another beat.
"There's a ship approaching, a trapper. They're only a few minutes away, they'll be emerging from the fog anytime, now."
"You're sure this is a trapper?" Hiccup asked quickly. "We are expecting many ships today, possibly –"
"This is a trapper who works for Dagur. He has the Skrill crest upon his sails."
Hiccup's mouth went dry as he spun to the ocean. He leapt onto Toothless' back and looked to the rider. "Get everyone out of sight! We're not taking any chances!"
The rider grabbed his war horn and blew into it. It was small enough to make a sound only Berkians would hear, and everyone around Hiccup and the rider spun around and tripped over themselves. There was a moment of silence before the entire village flew into action.
Toothless shot into the sky as the rider soared to the docks. Hiccup hovered over the docks and people looked up at him.
"Everyone, run to the hall!"
People dropped whatever they were carrying, fleeing to the hall as fast as they could. Toothless sprinted and flew over to the Hangar. Rose ran out of the massive building as Hiccup landed. "Get those storm doors shut and lock the doors!"
Rose and Netmug, with help from a handful of Vikings, turned the massive wheels and cranks to shut the huge iron doors. Dragons flew in from the surrounding area as the doors shut. Hiccup nodded and heard Cauli barking orders to her men.
"Get to the trees!" she demanded. Hiccup flew ahead of them and landed at the top of his tree. He lie flat on Toothless' back, on his belly, as the last of the villagers hid. The soldiers hid behind trees and one tossed a bow up to Hiccup. He stared onward as he heard the doors of the Great Hall shut.
"We're just gonna sit here?" Tuffnut hissed over to Hiccup from another tree. Barf and Belch reared their heads nervously, and Hiccup waved at him to shut up.
"Once they see there's nothing here, they'll leave," Hiccup growled. "If they don't, we do as we planned."
Rose nodded and nocked an arrow over the bowstring, waiting in silence.
Ruffnut held Snowdrop's hand as they saw the cliffs of Berk emerge from the foggy mist of the morning. Snowdrop gasped and pointed, bouncing in place, as Ruffnut marvelled at it.
"Look, it's Berk!" Snowdrop cried. Ruffnut bit her lip as tears filled her eyes once more.
Home. After almost three moons, she was coming home. Her knees felt weak as she stared up at the beacons that surrounded the village, and for the first time, she noticed the details of them. Her heart soared as the ship sailed on, closing the endless distance between Berk and the girls. Eret smiled at them, looking over at them without them noticing. He had a home once. Gone now, he could only envy and appreciate their happiness.
"I'm not seeing any dragons," one of his men growled behind him, snapping Eret out of his reverie. Bronson, a slinky weasel of a young man with greasy brown hair, scowled and sneered at the empty skies.
Snowdrop looked over her shoulder to him. "They're shy. Don't worry, they're here."
Ruffnut squeezed Snowdrop's hand as she craned her neck to look at the Hangar. It wasn't there before, and the sheer size of it made her head dizzy. There were people here, she knew.
"See, no one is here." Snowdrop quipped to Eret. But Bronson didn't look convinced as he glared at the dozens of trading ships tied to the docks.
The ship docked and men jumped off with ropes to secure the ship. Eret grabbed Ruffnut's arm and pushed her onward. "Stay close to me," he told them. "I don't want any surprises."
"You're not gonna find any surprises," Snowdrop frowned. "Let go of her!"
"Not until we see some dragons, eh?" Bronson growled behind Eret's shoulder to the back of Eret's Ruffnut. "We brought you home in exchange for loot."
Snowdrop pouted up at Eret, who cringed and groaned awkwardly. He grabbed a rope tied to his belt and pulled Ruffnut's wrists together. She glared up at him and Eret sighed through loose lips. "It's just business," he muttered. Ruffnut swallowed as she watched the ropes encircle her frail, bone-thin wrists. She timidly looked up at Eret, who couldn't look at her.
When the rope was tied, Eret secured the rope back to his belt, tethering Ruffnut to him. He looked down at Snowdrop, who crossed her arms and scowled at him, her angry face framed by her frizzy blonde hair.
"What, you're gonna tie me up, too?"
Mehran and the other eleven men on Eret's ship all looked at each other. Bronson grabbed the rope from his own belt, but Eret raised a hand.
"I don't think tying up a four year old with a broken leg is necessary."
Snowdrop huffed and Ruffnut gave her a look to silence her before she opened her big mouth.
"It's fine," Ruffnut told her. "Come on, let's just go."
They left the ship with Stormfly limping behind her and Ruffnut finally felt the stability of the ground beneath her. She let Eret hold onto her arm, but she was more focussed on the trees, the buildings… Eret peered over at the broken foundations of houses that had been reduced to nothing but coals. The forge seemed to be the only thing intact, along with the Great Hall. Snowdrop looked around, confused. Why couldn't she see anyone? She gulped and limped on.
"Looks deserted," Mehran said happily. "A whole village to loot! Screw dragon trapping, if we can find enough stuff to sell, we'd never have to go back!"
Bronson crossed the docks slowly, eyeing the trading ships on the docks as a creeping feeling crawled into his gut. "Shut it."
As Snowdrop waddled over the docks towards the village with Eret and the rest of his crew in tow, Bronson jumped on one of the trading boats. There was a collection of barrels on board, and he grabbed one, dragging it away from the rest. He grabbed his knife and popped the lid open, throwing it to the side. He stared at its contents and his eyes widened, his mouth watering and his anger building all at once. He reached inside and grabbed a snow-apple from within. It was fresh, not quite ripe. Bronson squeezed it, fuming.
Wary, Ruffnut led the men up the hill towards the Great Hall, following Snowdrop as she struggled up the frozen mud step after step.
"It looks destroyed," Mehran mumbled as he looked at the decimated ruins of the houses. Moss has already crawled up the edges and the men all solemnly looked around, pained expressions on their faces. Scorch marks scarred the grass in splatter formations, places where the Sun Sap had claimed helpless victims, melting them horrendously. Ruffnut could hardly look at them, feeling nauseous.
Snowdrop looked over the trees, trying to find the shapes of houses, and maybe people. She began to limp towards them and the men didn't think twice, too distracted by gazing over the abandoned and destroyed village.
"Stop!" Bronson barked from behind. Snowdrop jumped and everyone watched him as he stormed up the hill. "These girls have been lying to us!"
Ruffnut stood behind Eret and Snowdrop huddled behind her. The men all watched him as he vibrated in anger.
"We should return to the ship," Bronson spat.
Eret scoffed. "Every trip, Bronson! Every time you step foot on land, you have some sort of problem!"
"I found fresh food on them boats!" Bronson yelled back, thrusting a shaking finger back towards the boats. "Enough food to feed a lot of people!"
When no one offered Bronson any sort of comforts, he shoved through the crowd and grabbed Ruffnut. Everyone tried to jump on Bronson as Ruffnut screamed. Eret shoved Bronson back towards the trees, pulling Ruffnut behind him.
"Ruffnut is under our protection, we had a deal!" Mehran yelled to Bronson. But Bronson snatched Snowdrop and dragged her away. Everyone made a move to go after them, but Bronson pulled out his fishing knife, placing it under Snowdrop's chin.
"Wait!" Ruffnut shrieked. "Don't!"
"You've been lying to us this whole time, dragging us into your trap!" Bronson screamed.
"We do not threaten children!" Eret sneered at the man, but kept his distance. Of all his crew, he liked Bronson the least. "We are trappers, not murderers! Put your knife down!"
"I'll do it!" Bronson cried. "I'll do it, I swear!"
"Are you insane?!" Ruffnut hissed. She pulled against her restraints. "Do you want to die?!"
"We shouldn't have trusted you, Eret should have left you on that wreck!"
"Put your knife down unless you want to see all your men slaughtered! That is the sister to Hiccup's wife, his only family –"
"Bronson, think about what you're doing!"
"I am!" he screamed, making Snowdrop squeeze her eyes shut and burst into tears.
"STOP!"
Everyone froze and looked over Bronson's head as Tuffnut and Hiccup sprinted from the trees, their dragons in tow. Hiccup. eyes wide and arms outstretched, stumbled to a halt. He grabbed Tuffnut's arm to stop him from moving any further. A scream caught in Ruffnut's throat as Tuffnut locked eyes with her. Her knees went weak and she tried to move towards him, but Eret held her firm.
"Don't hurt her!" Hiccup cried, keeping his arms around Tuffnut.
"Ruffnut!" Tuffnut screamed. "I'll kill you if you touch her, I'll tear you apart!"
Eret leaned back, intimidated by Tuffnut's screams.
"Hup!" Snowdrop choked.
"We should leave," Eret said quickly. "We need to get out of here!"
"We're not going anywhere!" Bronson shrieked.
"Stop this madness!" Mehran yelled. "You're going to get us all killed!"
"No one is killing anyone!" Hiccup replied. "Let our sisters go and there won't be an issue. I promise!"
We should strike! Toothless yelled to Hiccup.
"You'd hit her, too," Hiccup muttered. "It's too –"
All of a sudden, a huge shadow flew overhead. Everyone looked up, cowering, including Hiccup and Tuffnut. Another dragon, unrecognizable, soared above them, spinning in the air and diving.
"They're attacking!" Bronson cried.
"No, we're not!" Hiccup screamed. "That's not us!"
The dragon fanned out his massive wings to stop him from diving. With two sets of talons, he grabbed Bronson's head and wrenched him up, lifting him kicking and screaming in the air. Hiccup leapt onto Toothless' back, locking his leg into place, as the dragon flew back into the air, bellowing. People rushed out from the trees behind Hiccup, alarmed and distraught.
"Snowdrop!"
The dragon flung Bronson like a rag-doll towards the docks, and Bronson lost his grip on Snowdrop's tiny body. She screamed as she soared through the air, and Toothless, like an arrow, shot after her. Just before she hit the ground, Toothless flew under her. Snowdrop crashed into Hiccup's arms, the air whooshing out of her and Hiccup scrambled to get a grip on her. He crushed her into his chest, holding her with one hand and holding the reins with the other, watching as Bronson broke every bone in his body over the docks, falling into the ocean.
"Hup!" Snowdrop managed to say as she tried to catch her breath. Hiccup held her tightly.
"You're alive," Hiccup breathed, relief washing over him like a stormy wave. "I love you so much, thank the gods, don't you ever, ever, do something that stupid again!"
Toothless flew around, and Hiccup watched the mysterious dragon land in front of everyone, who all gawked up at it. The dragon was unlike anything Hiccup had ever seen, but he saw a figure dismount off his bare back. Toothless landed tentatively between the dragon and the rest of the village, Eret and his crew included. Toothless' fans were pressed against his head, his teeth bared. Hiccup refused to let go of Snowdrop as he saw the rider walk around the massive creature, her hand trailing along his side. She was pale, thin, and her breaths were shallow as she looked up at Hiccup slowly.
"H-Hiccup," she breathed to him. Hiccup's eyes narrowed as he looked over the features of her face, the sound of her voice making his mind think back to a time he thought he had forgotten about. The woman looked over Hiccup's shoulder, her jagged breaths making her blink nervously. "Eret, let Ruffnut go."
Everyone watched as Eret hesitated before he pulled his knife and cut the ropes from her wrists. She stumbled away from him, giving him a small smile, before she turned and ran to Tuffnut.
Something prickled Eret's eyes as he watched Tuffnut run to her. Ruffnut sprinted for him, trying to keep herself from sobbing, before she crashed into his arms. Tuffnut buried his face in her shoulder, strangled sobs of relief tearing out of him painfully. He lifted Ruffnut off the ground and clutched her dearly, thanking every god he knew for her return. He even nodded to Eret, who blinked away a tear, hiding it away from the view of his crew.
The woman looked up at Hiccup with a pained smile. "You probably don't remember much of me."
"I… I don't… I…" Hiccup tried to find the words as he began to recognize certain features of her face. He swallowed his words, lost as the woman stared at him timidly. She bit her lower lip and looked away for a moment, a shaky breath flying out of her lungs.
Rose ran to Hiccup's side, skidding to a halt between them. A little sob hiccuped out of her lungs as the woman looked up with wide eyes full of tears. She smiled, making tears flow over her sharp cheeks. She held out a hand to Rose, who took it. The woman pulled Rose against her gently and Rose's face nestled itself into the woman's underarm. The woman sighed and kissed the top of Rose's head as she locked eyes with Hiccup again, who finally understood.
"Mum?"
He dismounted, carrying Snowdrop on his hip. He stumbled forward, forgetting his leg was turned for flying and not for walking. He stumbled and almost fell forward before he set Snowdrop down. He pulled the tiny peg back to change his leg, and Valka watched him as he did it. He straightened his back and looked to Valka, who rocked Rose gently back and forth as little sobs were muffled by her clothing. She reached another hand to him and Hiccup surrounded his sister, his mother, in an embrace that felt warm, strong, and eternal.
Hiccup called off the alarm, and everyone left the safety of the trees. The Great Hall doors were opened and people streamed forth. Relief and happiness and laughter filled the cold air as Valka, Hiccup, and Rose climbed the hill. Eret and his crew had been surrounded by soldiers and were escorted to the hall by Cauli. Ruffnut laughed loudly and snorted at something Tuffnut said to her, and Eret snuck a peek in her direction. She looked over and accidentally caught his eye, but Eret looked away and cleared his throat.
Valka tried to slow her heart as she craned her neck to look at the carvings of the Great Hall. Over twenty years ago, she remembered, she had married Stoick inside the building after the meadow had flooded after a storm. Tears had long dried upon her cheeks as her heart fluttered within her. Rose and Hiccup began to walk up the steps, but Valka stopped, staring at the first stone step.
She was home. But for some reason, it felt alien to her. After years of being under the control of Alvin, of stone walls and iron doors, of dragons and people screaming as sun disappeared behind the island mountains. But here, the air was too clean. The stone steps were too safe. The people were too happy. She stared at her boots, standing on the worn soil, right in front of the steps.
She felt Cloudjumper coo behind her and rub against her back gently. Toothless nudged her hand and tongue hanging out, he groaned happily.
When the air went quiet once more, she lifted her chin slowly. At the top of the steps, Stoick stared down at her as if she were a ghost. He was thin, thinner than she had ever seen. His hair and beard had touches of grey, like her own hair, and wrinkles had turned his face older. But she recognized him, and her heart painfully hammered in her ribs.
"Val?" he asked barely above a whisper.
Valka lost her voice, too terrified to say anything. Hiccup and Rose looked at each other, worried.
Why was this so hard? Why couldn't she say anything to him?
Stoick descended the steps slowly, his eyes fixed upon Valka in disbelief.
"I thought…"
"You thought I was dead?" Valka suddenly retorted. Stoick caught his breath and stopped, poised near the top of the staircase. Why was she angry? Sorrowful, fiery tears filled her eyes and spilled over as she stared up at her husband. "Why didn't you come for me?"
The wind blew strands of Valka's hair over her face, into her quivering mouth and over her watery eyes. Hiccup and Rose averted their eyes, shifting uncomfortably.
"Fourteen years," Valka continued hoarsely. "Fourteen years, I waited."
Stoick's eyes slowly fell, his shocked face falling as Valka stared up at him.
"It wasn't fair," Valka said weakly. "It wasn't fair you gave up on me, that you moved on. That I had to hear about how our son grew through hateful updates between Alvin and his men. That I had to do terrible things to keep Rose and I alive while you… forgot."
Stoick took another step, his eyes red. Valka sucked in a breath, a hand over her heart and another hand over her stomach.
"You promised me that you would never give up on me. You promised to fight for me."
Stoick winced as tears disappeared into his beard. His steps grew heavier, but he forced himself to move.
Valka closed her eyes and covered her face. This wasn't what she wanted. She had been thinking about this moment for years, of how it would be when they finally found each other again. But an unforeseen anger and sorrow had taken over her like fire over dry grass. She trembled like a child in winter, holding herself.
She felt a hand touch hers, gentle and calloused and familiar. Stoick pulled her hand away from her face and he cupped her cheek, tears covering his sallow face.
"I never moved on from you," he whispered to her. He kissed her forehead and a sob escaped through her teeth. She squeezed his hand as he held her face and Stoick pressed his forehead to hers. And when she breathed, she smelled his scent and sobbed again. She forgot the way he felt, the way he looked, the way he smelled. But she had him again. He held her gently and closed his eyes as Hiccup and Rose held them on either side, joining the family as a single entity for the first time in eternity.