Chapter 16: Reunion

Third Person POV

Exactly as he was when the others left, Toric was sitting on a stool carving things into his bow. So far neither Nico or Hiccup had stirred so the archer had been left alone with his thoughts.

"Which is how I like to be." He thought as he finished his latest carving addition to his bow. The carving was one of the small Terrible Terror lying wrapped around Nico's feet.

"Scorched was the his name I think." He shrugged and wiped away the excess wood chippings that were sitting on his bow.

A mutter from Nico gained his attention as the boy in question squirmed in his bed as if he was being pinned by something.

"Must be having a nightmare." Toric wasn't known for being comforting or caring, rather than waking him up the archer sat back and observed. Observing was more his thing, his ears strained to hear the faint mutters echoing from the unconscious boy but he could pick up one word that was being repeated...

"Lyna? It seems the two were closer than I thought." A slight creak brought him out of his thoughts and instinct kicked in, over the years Toric had learned to sharpen his senses and his hearing was as good as that of a predator, the light creaking sounded from the front door being opened.

"Astrid and the others wouldn't be this quiet... it's too quiet for one of the Viking villagers as well... I didn't think she'd be back this soon... she must have been spying on us... which means she probably knows I'm here..."

Toric didn't normally spook easily but this was different, she was the only thing that had ever caused Toric to be scared. Quiet as a mouse Toric slowly crouched and moved himself next to the doorway, he drew an arrow without making a sound and notched it on the bowstring... waiting.

The creaking had stopped but every few seconds there was a small tap, it was so slight that even with his impressive hearing he almost missed it. Another tap then silence. Toric counted the seconds in his head... one... two... three... four... there would normally have been a tap by now unless... she was already at the top about to enter through the door. He waited, unlimited patience was another of his talents but being an archer this came easier than to most others.

The door creaked as it slowly opened. Toric aimed the arrow at the door as he waited for the assailants head to appear.

"Toric?" A familiar voice called out in a barely audible whisper.

"Diana?" Toric whispered back surprised as he lowered his bow, "What are you doing? I thought you left with the others?"

"There wasn't enough room on the dragons but that doesn't matter...I saw Lyna she's in the village..."

Toric felt the temperature in the room drop.

"Where?" He asked.

"I don't know but she's close." She replied, "Listen we have to leave Nico here and get out of the village!"

"No! We can't leave the-" Toric paused. "Why did she just mention Nico?"

"Is Hiccup still in Marcus' house?" He asked deliberately.

"Yes he's fine don't worry but if we don't hurry then Lyna might find us!" She replied.

Toric chuckled. "Well I must say you almost had me there...Valkyrie..." He announced and a sharp intake of air confirmed his thoughts. "Where's Diana?" He asked as he redrew his bow and aimed it at the door.

A feminine laugh sounded from behind the door and it swung open...

"Well Toric I can see even after all these years you're still able to outsmart me." Valkyrie laughed.

"Not exactly difficult. You should really be careful with what you say." He shot back. "Also I see you've still retained your ability to impersonate people...must say I'm impressed."

"Well you know Lyna thinks she's the one in control but honestly I just wanted to lure her into a false sense of security and well you of all people know that she has very large emotions that girl. So it's not hard to manipulate her into doing what I ask." Valkyrie smirked

"What do you want?" Toric snapped.

"Isn't it obvious Toric... I want my old partner in crime to join me."

Toric felt a bead of sweat drop off is forehead.

"Listen Valkyrie... that was a long time ago... you don't have to do that again okay? Stoick has offered a peace treaty... we can stop this madness without anymore bloodshed." Toric reasoned.

"I know I don't have to... I want to! Did you really think that you could just use your little words to get her back again? Cause I'm in control now and it'll take more than a few puny words to get rid of me." Valkyrie's eyes narrowed.

"I don't want to hurt you but you know I will if I have to." Toric warned.

"Why Toric? What is there for you here? It's only a matter of time till your past catches up with you. You honestly think that the people of Berk will forget what you did? What we did? Toric we are outcasts we will never be able to fit in with them." She held out her hand, "You know what they did to our parents! How cruel and unfair they were! Toric together we can make all those people pay for what they did to our parents...together we can destroy all those who stand in our way."

Toric's grip loosened slightly on his bow as Valkyrie's words hit him.

"She is right... I have nothing on this island..." He opened his mouth to answer but then a groan from Nico brought him back to his senses and his grip tightened on his bow.

"No Valkyrie..."

Her smirk faltered. "What?"

"I said no... I have a duty here to atone for my crimes and I'm going to start by getting rid of you!" He announced as he aimed the arrow right at her head.

Valkyrie threw back her head and laughed.

"How... how do you expect to get rid of me?" She asked through bouts of laughter.

"By doing this." Toric replied as he dropped the bow and drew his wicked looking knife.

"You said that Lyna has big emotions which was what made her easy to manipulate...well I'm pretty sure she could use them to retake control." He walked calmly over to Nico pulled him up till he was sitting. Then suddenly he wrapped his arm around him and placed the knife at his throat.

"Wah!" Nico's eyes flew open as he struggled to get out of Toric's grip.

"So what'll it be Lyna?" Toric asked. "Do you have the power to take control or are you too weak and pitiful to save your boyfriend..." Toric spat at Valkyrie.

The girl in question just stared at Toric in confusion. "What are yo- ack!" She dropped to her knees and clutched her head. "NO!" She cried, "This is my body I won't be shut out again!" She cried.

"Lyna?" Nico called as he looked at her in confusion, "Toric what the hell are you doing?!" He yelled.

Toric just smirked at him, "Trust me I'm making Lyna angry." He replied.

Nico turned back to look at Lyna.

"No...it's not...fair...I don't want to go back..." Valkyrie's voice started to falter. Suddenly she screamed and sprinted towards the window.

"Lyna!" Nico cried as he raised his hand as if it would stop her as she dived through.

Toric raced to the open window and just in time saw a dark figure running into the depths of the shadow.

"You can run Valkyrie," He thought "But it's only a matter of time before I find you... and now I know how to bring Lyna back." He looked at Nico who was staring back with a haunted look in his eyes.

Astrid (Third Person)

"What?!" Astrid cried in despair, "What do you mean there's nothing you can do?"

Gothi shook her head sadly and drew some more pictures in the sand at her feet.

"It's something only she can fix?" She asked as she tried to decipher the pictures.

Gothi nodded her head sadly.

"But what's wrong with her then?"

Gothi replied with more pictures.

"...Split person?...no! Split personality?!" Astrid exclaimed.

Gothi nodded again.

"So there's Lyna and then there's her other half Valkyrie?" Gothi nodded, "And Valkyrie is the more ruthless of the two and has caused trouble in the village before which is why Lyna avoids it... because they don't know about her split personality..."

Gothi drew more pictures.

"She's not even completely aware? No... she just doesn't understand properly!" Astrid was slowly putting the pieces together.

Gothi nodded again and drew one last picture.

"Nico?... he's the solution?... but wh- oh..." Astrid finally realised, "He's the only person that can get the two halves...at peace with each other... isn't he?"

Gothi grinned and nodded.

Astrid's face lit up, "Then all we need to do is find Lyna... or Valkyrie and get Nico to talk to them both... or something..." She planned, "Thank you

Gothi I know what to do now!" Astrid disappeared out the door and Gothi soon heard the sounds of wings beating as the dragons left.

The elder smiled to herself as she turned to her other guest who had stayed silent through the whole conversation.

"Well... I found what you told me to get but what will it do?" A gravely feminine voice asked.

Gothi just shook her head and took the object from the person's hand before placing it carefully in a cupboard which she then locked. Then when the lock had clicked she turned to her guest and held out the old dusty key.

"Why are you trusting me with this?!" A panicked voice asked

Gothi gave them a deadpan look.

"But... I don't know if I can do this it's such a big responsibility what if I mess up?"

Gothi wiped the sand at her feet and drew more pictures.

"... hm... are you sure about this?"

Gothi nodded sharply.

"Well I shall do it... should I take a dragon with me?" The guest asked.

Gothi nodded and pointed at a picture of a Hideous Zippleback.

"But if it's one of them who else should I take?"

This time Gothi wrote a name in the sand.

"...Oh...well this does sound risky so I'm definitely up for it and I'm pretty sure they'll as well." Ruffnut grinned as she cracked her knuckles.

Gothi grinned at the twin as she got up and left the small hut.

Different thoughts were swirling in Ruffnut's head as she descended the numerous stone steps that led to the Elder's house.

"I sure hope he's up for this," Ruffnut thought, "Cause there's no way I'm gonna be able to do this on my own..."

"Ow..." A white light flashed in Hiccup's vision as he sat up.

"Oh gods that hurts...why does my head feel like someone hit me with a hammer." He moaned as his vision started to clear.

"Because well you were beaten to near death by the looks of you." A voice replied.

Hiccup almost fell out of the bed in fright but calmed down when he saw it was only Nico standing in front of his bed with one of his arms hanging limply in a sling.

"Really? Well that explains why I can't remember much from the last few hours then... and also why I can't seem to move my arms or legs very much." He sighed.

"Yeah... well I don't think Astrid's dad likes you very much... especially now that you have a thing with his daughter and have manipulated her." He replied as he made air quotes.

Hiccup blushed. "It's not really a thing I mean yeah she kissed me but-uh you know there are...multiple reasons why she might have found the need to...do that..." He mumbled.

"Yeah I know must be your 'raw vikingness' she just found so attracting." A ghost of a smirk tugged at Nico's lips as he pretended to flex his muscles.

"Okay that's not fair," Hiccup had gone a bright red, "You know why don't we just stop having this conversation and move on to what happened in the last... what? Three, four hours?" He shrugged.

"Um well I have to admit I was out for a few of them but it was more like six or seven and well yeah a lot and I mean a lot has happened." Nico pulled up a chair and explained the events of the last six hours that Hiccup had mostly missed.

"Wait so she's now Valkyrie and wants to destroy the village for what they did to her dad?" Hiccup asked.

"Yeah basically and well that's what Toric told me and well he almost brought Lyna back by threatening to harm me but she jumped out the window and ran."

"And my dad offered a temporary truce...with dragons...and crushed your arm..."

"...it was a pretty hectic six hours..." Nico self consciously rubbed the top part of his left arm which was hanging limply in a sling, "Hey but we did find Stormfly again and she brought Toothless!" He added his face lighting up slightly.

"Toothless?" Hiccup looked puzzled, "Oh wait that Night Fury I was supposed to shoot down...and become friends with..." He remembered, "Was I really that desperate for friends?" He asked.

"Well I suppose but hey you were meant to make Astrid hate you before she started liking you but hey you completely skipped that and got to the making out part straight away so I don't really think you need to complain too much."

"Mm I suppose," Hiccup smiled, "That is a perk I guess."

There were thuds on the stairs and the door opened to reveal Toric helping Diana limp up the stairs with a bandage wrapped around her head.

"Diana?!" Nico rushed over to clear the bed he had been recovering on earlier, "What happened?" He asked Toric as they set down.

"Well when Valkyrie arrived she pretended to be Diana to get me to open the door but after she left I went to check if she was telling the truth about her staying behind and I found her lying behind her house with a large cut on her head from where I'm guessing Valkyrie used something to knock her out." Toric explained.

"Is she okay?"
"I cleaned the wound as best I could and bandaged it but I'm not a healer and I'm pretty sure that attack could have damaged her head quite badly." He winced, "Worst problem is she's the healer of our village, the rest of us only know basic stuff about treating injuries."

Nico groaned, "Guess this means another run to the other village then..."

"Yeah but not tonight." Toric turned to look at him, "Enough has happened today we'll go first thing tomorrow when everyone's back."

"Well I think that might be them now." Nico announced as the sounds of beating wings filled the air.

"You go meet them and update them on what's happened, I'll stay here." Toric told him. He glanced at Hiccup who had managed to move on his bed and now had his feet dangling off the side of the bed, ready to stand up, "Maybe you should take him too." He suggested, "I think he's really missing his girlfriend."

Nico struggled to contain his amusement as Hiccup cringed at the word.

"Yeah I agree I'll see to it that they have a happy reunion." He promised as he offered his hand to Hiccup whom graciously took it and shakily got to his feet.

"You okay?" Nico asked as Hiccup put his arm around him.

"Yeah just need a little help getting to the front door." He admitted as the two slowly made their way to the door.

Nico pushed opened the door just in time to see the two dragons land. He heard Hiccup's sharp intake of breath as he laid eyes on the obsidian coloured Night Fury.
"He's quite a sight isn't he?"

Hiccup nodded, "Wow I didn't know that the 'unholy offspring of lightning and death itself' could look so..." He fumbled for a word, "Majestic."

Out of the corner of his eye Nico spotted a flash of golden hair.

"Not as majestic as the lovely creature you're about to meet." He told Hiccup.

"Wha?" He turned just in time to see Astrid's eyes light up as she spotted him standing at the door.

"She's all yours," Nico announced as he slipped off Hiccup's hold and left him standing alone. Not a second later the boy was simultaneously swept off his feet and crushed in a hug that Nico was sure could crush Stoick. He smiled as they kissed and turned to give them privacy as he made his way over to Marcus to tell him the news about Diana. All the way he tried and failed to contain his laughter at the awkward sounds coming from Hiccup as he struggled to handle Astrid's affection.

Yay reunions at last! So yeah hi again sorry for lateness hope you are all well and I'll try to have another chapter soon but no guarantees. Yes I added another plot idea (Don't know why I just do) so there will be more possibly and hopefully StoryGirl that was enough Hicstrid for you but if you felt it was lacking in anyway (it was short so it probably was) then I will try to add some more in the next chapter!

So thanks for reading and stay tuned!