AN: Hello once again. I have been waiting so long to write and post this! I hope you like it! It's vital!

Also…anyone of my lovely readers live in Mexico?

I have been living here for the past seven/eight weeks and I must say I LOVE IT! It's so beautiful here and the people are so nice!

It's also the reason why I have been more active. Lots of inspiration and time to write!

Anyway, enjoy your week, read and review if you like and other than that I have nothing more to say other than thank you for putting up with me

Love, Kate!

Chapter Ninety-Eight: Revealing the past

"Everyone, wake up!"

Josh groaned and buried his head deeper in the pillow.

Leave it to Hiccup to begin the morning like this.

"Five more minutes. Whatever is happening or attacking us can wait that long, right?" Josh asked and rolled to his other side.

As a response his blanket was snatched away and the brisk morning air of the Archipelago hit him everywhere.

"I hate you." He grumbled and opened his eyes.

Hiccup was already moving away from him.

He was still in his riding gear and his hair was windswept. Something told Josh that the boy had yet to go to sleep.

But his green eyes were alight with an energy Josh hadn't seen for a long time.

Something hat Hiccup excited and that was either good or bad.

Josh got to his knees just as Hiccup snatched Will's blanket away and kicked Conner's leg to get them to wake up.

"It's important.

"Isn't it always?" Conner groaned.

"Well yeah. Now get upstairs. The girls are already awake."

"I swear he would make a great drill-sergeant." Josh muttered to himself as he pulled a shirt over his head.

They had anchored in a small bay of one of the many islands along their path the last night and when Josh and the others emerged from below the ship they saw Hiccup pacing along the rocky beach, the dragons lying lazily around, chewing on something they had caught for breakfast.

Kate, Hope und Illiona sat on some rocks not far away from Hiccup. All three looked tired.

To the east the first light of the sun could be spotted. It was just enough to let them see but it was still god-damn early.

"Okay dwarf, why did you call us out here at the ungodly hour?" Will asked.

"I went to Dragon-Island, better known as Helheim's Gate. It's the place where I killed the dragon Queen Red Death. And where I first met Loki and got confronted with my destiny. When I was there, I met Loki. And we talked…"

Hiccup explained his revelations quickly, baffling all of them.

"It really is strange if you think about it. And yet it makes sense. We all wonder why we were chosen even though it might as well could have been a parent or a sibling in our stead. But those weren't born in the same generation. We are all more or less in one age-range." Kate said.

"Yeah yeah, very fascinating but how will you find out about the 'flaw'?" Josh asked.

Hiccup glanced at Hope. "Well, there is one living being in this world besides Kate's father that lived back then. One that might knows more than us."

Hope, understanding what he meant, whistled lowly. "You are right." She said.

"Who are we talking about?" Illiona asked confused.

"Namhera was the dragon Brave saved and who later became his companion. If anyone knows something about our ancestors it's him."

All eyes turned towards the Whispering Death.

"What do you mean, he lived back then?" Conner asked surprised.

"Exactly what it means. Namhera is very old. Boulder-Class Dragons usually grow to be eons old." Hiccup said impatiently.

"Hope you need to mediate between us. You think you can do that?"

Thanks to his unique bond with Hopes ancestor by sharing his blood, Namhera was able not only to understand Norse, or All-Speak, but also to speak it. At least in his thoughts. That was why Hiccup needed hope. Hope's mental connection with the dragon allowed her to talk to him.

Hope chewed on her lower lip.

"It won't be that easy Hiccup. Don't you think I asked him a dozen times about Brave and the others? That one flashback in the desert was all he ever showed me. He doesn't like talking about the past. He has sealed those memories behind a great wall." She said.

"We'll just have to ask again. He must know so much! Please Hope!" Hiccup begged.

She sighed. "Alright."

"And what do we do while you talk?" Josh asked.

"I won't talk with him alone. I think all of us need to see this. To understand what we're facing better and understand ourselves better." Hiccup said honestly.

The group exchanged uneasy glances.

Although what Hiccup said was true and each of them had questions burning under their nails for weeks now, they couldn't help but feel intimidated.

A door to the past, a door to understanding why them, why now and why at all.

Hope whistled lightly and Namhera rose from the ground, his tail-like body rotating in gentle circles as he hovered towards them.

Hiccup knew that the dragon was like a puppy around Hope and seemed all cozy and friendly but Hiccup had seen him in action and a Whispering Death always looks threatening!

The ground curled his long body around Hope and gently nudged her.

She smiled and scratched him above the eyes.

"Nam, Hiccup would like to ask you something." She said softly.

The dragons milky-white eyes turned to Hiccup. He met them calmly and slowly approached.

"Namhera. You were born thousands of years ago into a world of war, similar to these times. Darkness against Light, Human against Dragon, humans and dragons against Dragon-Riders" here Namhera growled a little bit but Hiccup continued "You joined that war. You fought valiantly. But then you were injured. You thought it would be your end but you were saved by a human. A sworn enemy saved you. It opened your eyes. You bonded and together with six others you tried to save the world. You fought together. Celebrated victories and mourned loses. You yourself lost your partner. A loss that nearly drove you mad" Namhera hissed louder and Hope gave Hiccup a warning glance "And then you found your partner again. You see him in her, don't you? That part of her soul that is as old as yours and aching familiar. It's Brave. He promised you he'd come back and he did. They all did."

Hiccup stopped in front of the dragon's mighty towering head.

"Look inside of me and tell me what you see. Look inside all of us and tell me what you see."

For a few seconds there was absolute silence all around.

Then Namhera leaned forward and sniffed Hiccup's face, his torso, uncurled himself slightly to get closer to him.

Hiccup stayed calm.

Finally the dragon retreaded to Hope and looked at him.

Hope nodded and said: "He says he knows that you are Hiccups descendant. He says he knows who we all are."

"Then you maybe know what it is we're trying to do." Hiccup said, addressing the dragon again.

"You and I both know that how things went a thousand years ago was not how it was supposed to happen.

None of them should have died yet they all did. You lost the war. This is our chance to win it. But we need your help. Something went wrong last time. The mistake that set off a chain of events that let to the demise of our ancestors and nearly ended the world."

Hope calmly stroked Namheras face.

"He wants to know what you are getting at." She said silently.

"I want you to show me your memories. I want to see what went wrong all those years ago. I need to understand. WE need to understand. To make things right this time."

Namhera just stared at Hiccup. Hiccup stared back, forcing himself not to blink.

"Please." He added.

Namhera got closer to him until his giant head hung right in front of Hiccup.

A voice filled his head, only for a second. But the message was loud and clear.

"For her sake."

Hiccup shivered but nodded.

Then he asked: "How do we do it?"

Namhera turned to look at Hope and they seemed to converse telepathically for a few minutes before Hope nodded and turned around.

"We need a fire. And pine-needles. And someone to guard us while we're under." She said.

.

Half an hour later they had a bonfire roaring and sat round it, close enough to be in arms reach.

Namhera had once again curled up around Hope. Hiccup sat next to her, Kate next to him, and then came Josh, then Conner and then Illiona.

Will threw a bowl full of pine-needles into the flames. He had told them he would sit 'this love in' out and guard them while they were 'under'.

The smoke was heavy with the smell of wood and fumes of the pine.

It billowed softly around them, making them drowsy and relaxed.

"Grab each other hands." Hope said softly and clasped Hiccups hand tightly.

One by one they followed her order.

Kates hand was firm and reassuring in his. Hiccup smiled.

Whatever they were about to see, he was glad to have his friends with him.

"Try to relax. It…can be a bit disorienting at first." Hope said.

Her voice sounded as if it came from the bottom of a deep hole.

Hiccup had the feeling of falling…falling…falling…into blackness…

.

.

There was a whirlpool of colors, of fast by-passing faces and scenes. Emotions crashed into him, happiness, joy, anger, disgust, fear, disbelieve, hate, love, confidence, shock…

Everything was upside down and wrong.

An assortment of voices and noises reached his ears but they blended together to one single loud sound.

He wanted to cover his ears but it was like he didn't have a body….

Hiccup just kept falling.

.

.

He 'awoke' on the green plains of some field.

There were flowers blossoming all around him and a soft wind waved around him.

"Hiccup, where are you?" voice shouted and instinctively he reacted to hearing his name being called.

He turned around and saw a young woman storming past him, down a small slope where a stream was cutting through the green.

She was small and lithe with black hair and brown eyes. She was maybe in her mid-twenties. Her dress was old-fashioned and consisted of different blues. It was made from a rough material, sturdy and strong enough for travel. It was simple and practical.

A bow was in her hand and a quiver with arrows on her back.

"Jade I am here." A new voice from down by the small stream said.

Hiccup, entranced, followed the woman, Jade, down the slope.

Looking at the man down there was looking at his future self, though this was his past self.

Hiccup the Second was tall and athletic, dressed in the brown leathers of a practical flying-suit. A sword was at his hip and a net in his hand.

A small pile of dead fish lay at the river bank.

But that was not all that lay there.

There was a Night Fury laying calmly in the grass, resting but one eyes was cracked open, keeping Hiccup the Second in sight.

Hiccup could see that he was a lot bigger than Toothless but still lithe and agile.

He was the same deep midnight black but had a ragged scar on his head and left front leg. His eyes were more yellow than green but all in all he was just as magnificent as Toothless.

"I was catching some dinner." Hiccup the Second said, pointing at the dead fish.

"Sadly Storm keeps eating them. He thinks I don't notice. That's why it took me so long." He said apologetic and flick some water at the dosing dragon.

"Storm." Hiccup let the name roll of his tongue.

Jade sighed. "Just don't go away without telling the others again. By the way Tenevra and Rupert have returned."

Hiccup the Second raised an eyebrow. "What's the damage?" he asked.

"Apparently he got his black eye after he purposefully tripped her." Jade said.

"I actually meant the village they were supposed to scout." Hiccup the Second said dryly.

"Those two…they will never get along, will they?" he asked annoyed before stepping out of the stream. Jade just shrugged.

He gathered eth fish and whistled, signaling Storm that it was time to go.

The big dragon got up, stretched and yawned before following the two Riders.

Hiccup followed them as they approached a small camp site a short walking distance away.

The bodies of seven dragons ringed the camp, a fire was burning and in the shadow of s giant lonely rock bed-rolls had been spread and simple canopies built.

Five people lounged around the fire though two were shouting and growling at each other.

Hiccup the Second sighed. "Here we go again."

But before Hiccup could see more he felt as if he was yanked back by an invisible collar around his neck.

He chocked and around him everything dissolves into the confusing whirlpool of colors, scenes and faces and loud noise.

A new scene materialized again.

Seven figures on the back of dragons flying in formation, the Night Fury Storm in front.

They were closing in on a burning hillside.

Hiccup, who was bodiless floating along, flinched at the horrifying sight that greeted him.

He had forgotten how bloody and frightening Dragon raids could be.

Down on the Hillside burning people ran round, corpses of both men and dragons covered the ground; the grass was on fire, spreading widely.

Dragons were flying lo, snatching up humans, killing them.

Men hurled spears and nets and fired catapults, taking out the dragons in the sky.

"HICCUP! WHAT'S THE PLAN?" the dark-skinned man to Hiccups left shouted.

'Brave', Hiccup thought.

"DISTRACT AND SEPERATE! Let me handle the dragons!" Hiccup shouted back.

"Get the people out and away!" he ordered.

They nodded and the group split apart.

Hiccup wanted to see more but once again he was swept away be the current of memories.

A scene, short but warm, flashed past.

Hiccup saw Hiccup and his friends, his companions, sitting around a fire, eating, laughing.

Then it was gone.

A new scene showed Brave and another woman talking as they flew over a mountain-range.

"I hope they have food prepared for us." The woman said.

"You always think with your stomach Tenevra!" Brave chuckled.

"What is wrong with that?" Tenevra asked slyly.

The current pulled Hiccup onwards.

He landed in the middle of a battle.

They were standing in a circle, fighting of a storm of people coming at them from all sides. Arrows whizzed past Hiccup, swords clanged together, cries filled the air.

But they were holding their ground.

They moved together.

Hiccup saw a man who must have been Rupert the First, slashing and hacking through his enemies with a sword in one hand and an ax in the other.

"COME ON!" he shouted "IS THAT ALL YOU GOT?"

Behind him came a cry from yet another woman. She looked like she had no place on the battlefield. She was only armed with a dagger and generally didn't look like a fighter.

"RUPERT LOOK OUT!" she shouted.

Just in time Rupert turned to slash an arrow headed for his neck into two pieces.

"Thanks Isabella!" he called back.

Hiccup felt the pull again and found himself in a different battle.

He saw Hiccup the Second and Jade fighting side by side. They were surrounded by enemies and fighting a hopeless battle.

An arrow hit Hiccup the Second in the chest, the woman was disarmed and they went down.

"NO! HICCUP, JADE!" the cry echoed over the place and suddenly Hiccup saw Rupert barrel into the enemies ranks.

"GET AWAY FROM MY FAMILY!"

Again the scenes changed.

All seven were gathered around a fire once again.

They looked pensive and resolved.

"This can't keep going like that. How can they not see that they are the reason for all this?" Rupert growled.

"We are spread thin. There are none of us left. At least not enough to cover enough ground." Brave agreed.

"We can't give up." Hiccup said.

"Well we're not progressing either." Rupert spit out.

"Nobody said anything about giving up." Isabella said calmly.

The scene dissolved.

Hiccup tumbled and turned through the stream of memories until another one appeared before him.

A very pale Jade lay on the ground, a bloody bandage covering her left side.

Kate's father, King George, sat next to her, covering her forehead with a cold cloth.

Hiccup the Second stood off to the side, looking angry but his clenched fists were a sign of self-loathing and anger about being helpless.

Rupert came storming from somewhere and headed right towards Hiccup the Second.

"This is your fault!" he whispered fiercely. "YOU DID THIS!" he shouted.

Isabella jumped to her feet. "Now now Rupert, Hiccup didn't do anything, Jade…" but Rupert ignored her and shoved Hiccup the Second backwards.

"YOU LET HER GET HURT! IF YOU HADN'T BEEN SO STUPID AND RECKLESS SHE WOULD BE FINE! BUT NO, THE GREAT HICCUP IS INVICIBLE, HE CAN TAKE ON THIRTY BLOOD-THIRSTY MANIACS!"

Hiccup the Second looked irritated and angry. "I didn't ask her to take the blow for me!" he hissed back.

"AND YET SHE DID!" Rupert shouted. "YOU COULD HAVE GOTTEN HER KILLED!"

"She's alive." Tenevra interrupted. "Shut up Rupert your ruckus is not helping the situation. Yes, Hiccup was reckless and stupid but luckily we all pulled through and Jade will be fine!"

"HE COULD HAVE GOTTEN ALL OF US KILLED!" Rupert howled.

Hiccup shivered at the familiarity of these words.

Hiccup the Second now seemed to lose it too.

"DO YOU REALLY THINK I WANTED THIS TO HAPPEN? YOU THINK I NEED YOU TO TELL ME THAT WHAT I DID WAS STUPID? BECAUSE I DO. GODS KNOW I KNOW!" he shouted back.

"But this is not the first time this happened!" Rupert seethed. "You've changed and not for the better! We're marking time. That's all we do! This war…it's pointless…we can never do it!"

He turned to the others.

"You must see that too!"

Isabella stepped up. "We must not lose hope. That is what he wants! Rupert, do not give in to his manipulations." She begged.

But Rupert just shot her a poisonous glare.

"You are the gods pet! You do all their bidding."

She looked at him icily. "I am their oracle." She growled.

"And a hell lot good you are to us. Couldn't you have seen this? We could have prevented it!"

"Hey, lay off her!" Hiccup the Second growled, while Isabella hissed: "You know my gift doesn't work like that. I am just a medium between the Lady Fates, the gods and the mortals! I am not your average soothsayer."

Rupert threw his hands in the air and said: "Still doesn't make it any better. Where are the gods? What happened to the grand master plan?"

Hiccup the Second, losing his temper again, said forcefully: "Things don't always go the way we would like them to go! You know that. If you can't deal with it anymore go! We can do without your constant complaints."

The two men glared at each other.

"I might actually do that!" he growled and turned on his heel. Marching over to a heavy built dragon.

He whistled sharply and the dragon raised his head.

Rupert mounted him and looked down at the others.

"I put up with a lot over these past months. I actually believed we could do it. But you must see that all we will gain is death. Darkness rise is inevitable. You are all blinded. You think Hiccup will save us. But he is a nothing. You should run and hide while you still can" he pointed at Jade "Because that is what you will get if you keep following him."

And with that the dragon flew away with its rider.

Silence reigned the campsite.

"He'll be back tomorrow." Hiccup finally said.

Isabella looked uncertain. "Hiccup…I don't think so…I think he meant it this time maybe we should go after him while he's still not too far away…." She suggested but Hiccup cut her off.

"NO! He made his opinion quiet clear. Follow him if you want but don't bother to come back." He hissed,

They all backed away.

Brave stepped forward.

"Hiccup my friend that is not you talking there. George is right. You have changed."

"We all have changed." Hiccup the Second growled back. "If you don't like it go!"

"Knock it off Hiccup. You made a mistake. We all know that. But we all do. We won't leave. But you can't keep going like that!" Tenevra said firmly.

Hiccup the Seconds shoulders sacked.

Grief filled his face instead of anger.

"He's not coming back." He whispered brokenly.

And Hiccup the Third didn't need a seer to know it was true.

The current came back and carried him away.

Snippets flew by.

One showed the group, now only six, traveling.

The next showed five of them standing around a pyre. There was no body but Hiccup saw who was missing. Tenevra.

Another memory flashed by.

The five, fighting, running.

The severed head of Kates father lying in a field, his body ripped to shreds, the eyes unseeing.

Hiccup watched the shadows of four dragons passing over a gorge.

He saw Jade next, lying propped up against a boulder, her face ashen. A spear stuck from her stomach.

The other three were kneeling around her, crying, holding her hand as she stopped breathing.

Hiccup's chest hurt. As if it was torn open from the inside.

Three lone figures sitting around a fire, not talking, not eating, just staring. They all look hopeless and exhausted. They look weary.

Isabella, standing amidst of yet another battle.

Her arms are spread to the sides and her eyes are glowing. Then her whole body glows.

The battle stops for a second.

But then Isabella screams and her body explodes into flames, burning everything in her direct surrounding.

Two men, standing at the shores of an endless ocean. Both are crying. They feel no shame. They have lost so much. It's too much.

Brave lies in the grass, glassy eyes unfocused. He too dies.

Hiccup the Second, his face covered by the marks of time, worry, loss and pain flies through a storm.

Hiccup the Second and Rupert, talking. Then fighting. Rupert dies too.

Hiccup the Second falling to his knees somewhere, head thrown back, arms spread to the sides, screaming at the sky.

Then there is darkness.

.

.

.

When Hiccup comes around the sun is high in the sky.

His throat is dry and his head feels like its stuffed with cotton.

He sits up slowly.

The others are awake.

They sit where they sat before, staring into the flames.

They all have cried.

Will is silent. He doesn't ask. He can see that whatever they saw has shaken them all to the core.

Toothless rubs his head on Hiccups shoulder.

"We'll be fine."

'I think.' He adds in his head.