Disclaimer: I don't own anything
Hiccup set off for Berk that very night with all of the supplies that he could possibly need for the long flight that would take about twenty-four hours with rest stops added in. The sacks that were added to Toothless' saddle contained traveling food like dried meat and hard bread as well as a few fish. Valka reasoned that he would be able to get better food when he got to Berk. The other sacks were filled with extra metal for if Toothless' tail broke, as well as drawing supplies, and clothes.
"You'll send a terror as soon as you as you get there, right?"
"Of course mum. I'll air mail you every night if you want me to."
"Yes, I would like that very much." Valka fondled Hiccup's hair and looked at him with a fond look in her eyes. "I'm going to miss you."
"I'll miss you too, mum. But I won't be gone too long. Just long enough to figure out what's happening with the dragons." Hiccup monotoned the last part as if he had said it about fifty times in the last hour.
Valka teared up a little as she pulled Hiccup into a large hug. Pulling back a little, Valka looked into her son's eyes. "Now who are you supposed to be?" she quizzed.
"I am Eirik Lundgren the Efficient from the tribe of the Skullions. I am but a simple Karl travelling with my tribe." Hiccup lowered his voice a little to fake his identity.
"Very good. Just remember that you are not you. You are not the son of the Captain of the Guard. That boy never existed as far as you know. And you are not the famous Night Rider who has saved Berk countless times."
"I know, I know. I'll be fine, you know I will." Hiccup hugged his mother, jumped on his best friends' back and walked Toothless out the door of the nest with Valka close behind. "I love you mum. I'll send you a note when I've reached Berk, alright?" Hiccup's mother nodded sadly and gave his hand a quick squeeze.
"Be safe. If I hear that you break anything from bones to Astrid's axe I'll throw you to the sea serpents before you can yell Toothless. Got it?" Valka gave Hiccup a look that could scare the Great Stoick the Vast right out of his undies. Hiccup gulped nervously and nodded briskly, promising himself not to touch a thing.
With one last wave, Hiccup soared into the darkening sky. Since Toothless could hide easier from prying eyes in darkness, Hiccup decided that night would be a better time to travel.
They traveled through the night and into the morning up in the clouds that were now tinged with only hints of pink as the blue reached its fingers into the atmosphere. It had been quiet most of the night. Toothless and Hiccup hardly said a word as they were flying over Bristol. Hiccup broke the silence finally. "Ok bud; let's start looking for somewhere to land and rest." Toothless hummed in agreement and dipped down below the clouds and leveled out. For now there was only ocean below, but soon enough, Hiccup saw more and more sea stacks as they came closer to a small island that Hiccup remembered naming Thor Rock Island, when they fled Berk, because of its shape. Hiccup and Toothless worked together to land softly on the beaches of the island.
Hiccup swiftly got off and found some pieces of wood and rocks to build a small fire pit. "Plasma Blast," Hiccup whispered. A high pitched noise filled Hiccup's ears as Toothless shot a mix of acetylene and oxygen charge from his mouth. "Thanks bud."
Toothless settled himself down on the sandy beach ready to have as nice nap before setting out again. Hiccup joined him on the ground and lay back against Toothless' warm belly. This island was not far from Berk, about one and a half hours on air. It had felt longer coming from the other way.
It wasn't the easiest decision to leave Berk. Yeah, the Vikings did treat Hiccup like poo covered cabbages stuck to their boot, but it was home to him. "And now I'm going back," Hiccup finished his thought aloud. "Was this a good idea, Toothless. I know they won't remember me, but that's the point! They never remembered me in the first place. I remember them being so surprised when I showed up right under their noses with their repaired weapons. The only time they did notice me was when I blew something up! What's the use of going back?" Toothless opened his eyes a bit and nuzzled Hiccup in the side, offering him comfort. "My father won't even recognize me." Hiccup sighed and leaned back, resting his head and closing his eyes. Tears wanted to leak out; his body wanted him to give into all of the heartache Berk had given. "I could run away again."
Toothless snorted and growled at Hiccup saying, No way, I am not flying around the world again! Plus we've come too far to back out now. Remember we are the infamous Night Rider. We are fearless! Right as Toothless spoke he jumped up as a spider crawled across his hind quarters. "Fearless, huh?" Hiccup sniggered watching as Toothless pranced around trying to get the spider off. Once the spider was yards away, Toothless gave Hiccup a whack in the head with his tail saying, Serves you right. Both Hiccup and Toothless grumbled as they settled on the ground again. The sun crawled a quarter way up in the sky when Toothless and Hiccup finally fell asleep in the cold air.
It was twilight when Hiccup stirred from his sleep. Hiccup's wake up routine always was the same. He stretched his legs fully out then curled them up again, this time as close to his chest as possible. Then he bunched up his hands in fists and rubbed his eyes. It all finished with a reach to the sky as he opened his eyes. Immediately, Hiccup let his sleepy eyes wander around him taking in where he was. With a little contented sigh that comes from a nice nap, Hiccup prodded his best friend. Hiccup was cute when he was waking up; Toothless was a whole other story. With a grumpy snarl Toothless kicked and rolled until he came to, bruising Hiccup in many places during the process. "Well good afternoon, Mr. grumpy puss. Welcome to the world of the waking." Toothless grumbled and faced away from Hiccup. "Oh no, you are not going back to bed, you have to wake up or you will not get any fish." Toothless growled unhappily. "Toothless," Hiccup warned. Toothless got up slowly onto his haunches yawning to the extreme. "You want your fish now?" Hiccup taunted. Toothless' eyes woke up suddenly in anticipation. Hiccup took a fish from his pack and tossed it to Toothless. Toothless happily caught it and started feasting on it. "I swear it's like I'm raising a toddler," Hiccup grumbled, not that he could talk. He still groused like that every day.
Throwing Toothless a few more fish, Hiccup took the saddle and harnessed it up to Toothless. Hiccup checked the tail fin and gears a few times to make sure they were working while Toothless ate. Grabbing a few meats and berries from his own stash of food, Hiccup and Toothless took off towards Berk once more.
In a short amount of time, Berk came into view. It seemed as beautiful as it did the first time in the sky with fresh fallen snow covering the ground in heaps. Yet when Hiccup looked closer it seemed to be in more ruins than he remembered. There were more houses missing, more patched roofs, and even the Great Hall looked a bit shabby, but that was to be expected from all the raids that have been going on. But none of this wreckage could hide the decorations for long. Apparently the whole of Berk had been very busy working on the upcoming coronation that was tomorrow. Ribbons and round, glass balls of every color hung from house to house illuminating the village at night. Near the Dragon arena there was a platform and seating where he assumed the coronation would be held. This platform had long, wooden poles with wooden dragons flying out of them. Tied to these poles was a string that held together a sort of roof over the platform in a rich, red fabric. Hiccup had to admit, Vikings loved everything to do with a celebration. Seeing no one out except for the occasional guard, Hiccup decided that he would check out the town for himself tonight for his mother's mission, but also to see the decorations before they are likely torn down by drunken Vikings.
Hiccup steered Toothless out of sight from Berk and into the cover of the clouds. After a short two minutes, Hiccup and Toothless ducked down again and headed towards Berk again. Toothless flew closer and closer to the forest of Berk and near Raven's Point. The smell brought back memories, that were mostly good, to Hiccup's mind like finding Toothless, time with his father when he was a small child, and memories about playing with Astrid. Hiccup and Toothless finally landed on solid ground in the middle of the cove. By the looks of it, no one had used it since he and Toothless left. Even the shield was still wedged between the rocks.
Once again the duo set up camp like they did at Thor Rock, this time a little bit more permanent. Hiccup pitched an actual tent near an old fire pit, but he left most of the saddle bags packed just in case they did need to escape from Berk quickly, which was likely not to happen, Hiccup reasoned. Hiccup then took a quick circuit of the cove and found a Terrible Terror. Remembering his promise to his mother, Hiccup made a quick note to Valka and sent the Terrible Terror into the air with directions to the nest. Meanwhile, Toothless did his own preparations by finding the perfect rock in the cove and burning it down a bit to make a nice, warm bed. Hiccup watched Toothless when he was finished then went over to talk to Toothless right before he went to sleep. Hiccup had found that Toothless listened to what you were saying when he was closer to sleep.
"Hey bud. I'm just going into town for a little bit to check things out. I'll be back as soon as I can, alright?" Toothless rumbled in reply. Hiccup smiled and walked out the exit of the cove.
000
It was the dead of night as the ninja crept in and out of the shadows, preparing to jump on his prey at any moment; nothing could stop him now. Rounding a corner the ninja jumped into the light of a torch hanging from a house, then back again into darkness. But before the ninja could take another few steps his own feet betrayed him and tripped him up. Hiccup fell flat on the ground with a soft thump. "The Gods hate me," Hiccup whispered to himself as he got up and dusted himself off. "Then again, I'm the stupid one playing ninja." The search of Berk had become quite boring for Hiccup between the old dragon skins hanging off the walls of every Viking's home and the loud snores of everyone on Berk to the point of Hiccup coming up with a game to play. "Everything's fun until someone gets hurt," Hiccup joked. Looking around, Hiccup found himself near the Kill Ring and the hill where the coronation ceremony would take place.
Hiccup took a look around the Kill Ring first. He did not go inside, but stayed on the outskirts looking in. Taking note of the dragons inside Hiccup noted if they were hurt in anyway (Which they weren't), how old they were (20's-60's), what they were being fed (Fish and other meats), and how many dragons were inside (4). "It seems that Berk hasn't changed a bit. They have the same dragons as they did five years ago, what's up with that?" Hiccup grumbled to himself. Hiccup backed away from the Kill Ring and started to make his way to the stage.
A hand shot out of the darkness behind Hiccup and wrapped itself around his mouth. Hiccup let out a small "eep" of fear and surprise as the figure snapped him around to face him.
"What 'cha doing out so late boy."
Hiccup gulped nervously and fought his way out of the Viking's grip, but kept a cool attitude as he talked to the stranger. "Oh I just got here, so I thought I would just look around before it got crowded. I'm Eirik Lundgren, by the way." Hiccup held out his hand to the stranger who was still shrouded by darkness. The stranger did not take his hand, but instead engulfed Hiccup in a giant bear-hug.
"Oh Hiccup! I knew you weren't dead. I told 'em, I told 'em, but they didn't believe me. But here is my proof right in front of me!" Hiccup stood stock still, unsure how to take this situation. Looking at the back of the person hugging him, Hiccup recognized him as Gobber. Of course it would be Gobber. But remembering what his mother said yesterday, Hiccup still kept up his pretense.
"Uh, excuse me sir, but, um, who is Hiccup?" Gobber stepped back from the embrace. "What are you talking about? I remember everyone I've met and everything about 'em. And no pompous accent could have fooled me." Hiccup blushed a little, knowing fully well that his fake voice was terrible. "Now stop with this 'Eirik Lundgren' nonsense and let's get inside with some food." Hiccup followed behind Gobber, giving up his façade, to the Forge.
On the familiar way there Gobber asked Hiccup, "Now what were you doing sneaking around Berk? Even if you did just arrive, that is no excuse to go sneaking around in the shadows."
"I wasn't sneaking around. Like I said earlier; I just wanted a look around before all the people arrived for the coronation."
"With a fake alias that couldn't fool anyone," Gobber countered. He looked around his shoulder to see Hiccup fumbling with his words. Snickering, Gobber turned left down an alley.
"Well, I….I….It would be weird for people on Berk to see a dead man alive, don't you think? So I just came up with a name. And by the way, wha..why are you sneaking around Berk at this hour?" Hiccup raised his eyebrow, convinced that he had caught Gobber.
"I'd have you know that I was out patrolling the island while my work was cooling on the table at the forge." The both of them turned one more corner and they came to the Forge. It was exactly as Hiccup had remembered it.
This was where he had grown up. A small hut, which was Gobber's, was attached to a sort of storefront where all the metal working was done. The smell of iron, fire, smoke, and leather filled Hiccup's senses as he stepped into the interior. Metal, tools, and odd weapons lay spread over every table, chair, and even some of the floor. Against one wall there was a fireplace with a small fire inside of it.
"Welcome home, lad," Gobber gestured to a chair near the smoldering fire which Hiccup gladly took. As soon as he sat down, Hiccup did feel right at home.
"Now, what are you doing back? Everyone on Berk thought you had been killed by dragons!" Gobber put down some bread on a plate and gave it to Hiccup as he settled himself down across from him on his own stool. Hiccup rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, as you can see, I'm not dead. I just left with… uh… my boat. You know my boat." Hiccup stumbled over his words trying to come up with a story on the fly. He thought it might be wise to leave dragons out of it because even if he trusted Gobber. Berk was still the same dragon-killing society.
"Your boat," Gobber repeated sounding unconvinced.
"Yeah, I went out on my boat with some supplies and just flew away." Hiccup said, rubbing his hands up and down his thighs trying to get the sweat off of his hands.
"Flew away."
"Oh, you know what I mean, uh… sailed away." Hiccup realized his mistake; he had never been too great at lying.
"And why would you want to sail away?" Gobber crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair a little. "Why would you need to run away Hiccup?" Hiccup opened and closed his mouth like a landed Scauldron. Gobber repeated, "Why would you need to run away Hiccup?" Finally finding his voice, Hiccup answered, "You know how people treated me here. They called me 'Useless'. I was the worst Viking Berk had ever seen, even my father said so."
"But you were accepted the day before you left. You were chosen to kill the dragon! Who wouldn't want that?" Gobber leaned closer to Hiccup. "Why didn't you want it, Hiccup?"
Hiccup didn't need to answer Gobber's questions, but he dearly wanted to. Gobber always understood, always, but would he believe him if he knew the truth? Hiccup whispered a non-comprehensible sentence. "What?" Gobber said as if he were deaf, leaning even closer to Hiccup.
"I said, how is Berk doing this far into Devastating Winter with a coronation no less." Hiccup's tone reverted back to normal and he lifted his head a little bit. Gobber grumbled a bit at the change in topic, but let it be. What with handling with King Asher and Stoick all the time, Gobber had gotten used to unfinished thoughts and conversations. It was still frustrating though!
"Ah well, it's going well, nothing Vikings can't handle. It's been a little hard without King Asher around to help us, but Camicazi, Bile, and Astrid have been doing well nonetheless." Gobber got up from his chair and pulled a piece of red, hot metal out of the ashes and started pounding it on the anvil.
"Oh yeah, I heard snippets of conversation about King Asher disappearing, but I couldn't believe it. How did it exactly happen, do you know?" Hiccup got up as well and put on an apron that he found hanging over some worn out tools in a corner of the forge. Then out of habit, Hiccup started helping Gobber with various tasks as they talked. Gobber recounted what had happened to King Asher just like Valka had. King Asher had gone on a mission to stamp out all of the dragons at Helheim's gate with his best warriors. Only his brother, Bile, and Stoick made it back with stories of how all of the Vikings had died on the mission. "It was a sad time for Berk. And as I said earlier, Astrid's mother, Camicazi, Bile, and Astrid then took control of Berk. And that same year we had the worst Dragon sickness go through the village. It was terrible." Gobber shuddered. "But enough of this talk of sadness, I have to finish this sword before the coronation tomorrow or I'm gonna get an angry Camicazi knocking at my door."
Gobber pulled a jewel incrusted sword off of a counter and blew a little on it to get some wood shavings off of it. "Now all I have to do is sharpen it up. Would you care to do the honors, Hiccup?" Gobber offered the heavy sword to Hiccup, hilt first. Tentatively Hiccup reached for the hilt and picked up the sword expecting to stumble under the weight of the sword, but surprisingly it was very light. Hiccup easily took it over to the whetstone and started to turn the large wheel and lay the blade of the dull sword against it. Sparks flew into the air as Hiccup easily sharpened the blade perfectly. Finishing the sword, Hiccup grabbed a cloth and whipped off the extra dust on the sword to reveal the perfect finish. "Perfect, just like all your other works, Gobber." Hiccup turned around to face Gobber to find him with his jaw stuck to the floor. "Gobber," Hiccup whispered a little worried at the old man's face. Awestruck, Gobber stumbled over his words. "You, you….you can hold a SWORD!" Gobber's lips broke into a smile and he punched Hiccup playfully. "I never knew there would be a day when you could hold a sword Hiccup! Who knew you would ever be more than a toothpick!" Gobber started to laugh like a half-crazed madman.
Hiccup handed over the sword and took off his apron. "Well thank you for having so much faith in me," Hiccup said sarcastically.
"Ha! I forgot how much fun it was to have a young 'un near the forge again! Your father will love to have you back as well." Gobber took off his apron as well, but tossed it in a corner while Hiccup had hung it up on a hook. Gobber suddenly stopped. "Stoick doesn't know you're alive," Gobber whispered. Hiccup looked at Gobber confused at his sudden quietness. "STOICK DOESN'T KNOW YOU'RE ALIVE, HICCUP! We have to tell him right away!" Gobber marched right out the door without another word.
Hiccup stood there a second, then realized what was happening. "Oh no, no, no, no!" Hiccup ran out the door as well after Gobber. Running in front of Gobber, Hiccup stopped him. "Gobber, we can't tell my father!"
"Why not?"
"Well, one, it's like three in the morning! You know how cranky he gets if you wake him up in the middle of the night. And especially when there's not a raid going on! Two….We just can't!" Hiccup gasped as he let his head fall between his knees as he tried to regain his breath from the run.
"Ugh, I guess I agree that he doesn't like to be woken up, but we still need to tell him." Gobber paused. "You don't know how much he missed you Hiccup once you left." Hiccup looked unconvinced. "Fine, we don't have to tell him tonight, Hiccup, but we are going to tell him first thing in the morning. Alright?" Hiccup nodded his head vigorously and straightened.
"Now where have you been staying." Gobber turned back to go to the forge with Hiccup trailing behind.
"Well since I just got here,…I don't know." Hiccup twisted his shoulders around a bit not liking that he had lied to Gobber again, but it was no use, and too late in the night to try and explain the cove.
"Why don't you stay at the forge with me for a few nights. I still have that cot that you used when you were a kid when you worked late. Then in the morning I can take you to see your father, which can't be avoided." Gobber gave Hiccup a sideways look, satisfied to see Hiccup abashed. "Then we can go down to the coronation together. Sound good?"
Hiccup nodded enthusiastically and followed Gobber back home to the nice fire.
000
Astrid shot up from her bed quickly. Looking down, Astrid noticed the sweat that soaked her night clothes, but didn't feel too bothered by it. She felt something different around her, but didn't know what. Oddly enough there was no raid, no nightmare, and no noises that could have woken her up. No, nothing like that. Something felt different in the atmosphere of Berk.
Astrid got up from her bed and changed her clothes to something a bit dryer. Even though it was biting cold outside, Astrid's room felt uncomfortably warm. Finding her axe in the dark, Astrid played with it as she walked around the room to calm down. The temperature of the room quickly went back to normal and Astrid put down her axe and walked to her window to opened it up and feel the cold air. Astrid looked over Berk from her window taking in everything from any weird noises to weird lights. Astrid spied the lights at the forge still on and wondered what Gobber was doing at such an hour. Even for him it was a little late. "Uh, it doesn't matter anyway. It's probably the pre-queen jitters that I'm feeling," Astrid whispered to herself. Leaving the window open Astrid crawled back under her covers, but not without a look at her hands; they were sparking. "Yep, definitely pre-coronation jitters." Astrid put her hands inside her armpits and crawled back into her sleep.
Hi everyone! Hope you liked the chapter, and sorry it took a little longer time. It's my longest chapter yet! I'm so happy. I have finally sat down and completely sorted out the plot of the story, except the ending, which is quite far away, so I shall be good for a while. If you were wondering what a Karl is it is part of the society of real Vikings. There are Jarls who are like noble men, Karls who were like common folk and farmers, and then slaves called Thralls. And brownie points to anyone who noticed my Harry Potter reference. Thanks for the support on this story and feel free to comment. I will be writing soon, but until then, TTFN!