AN: Holy Moldy-Shorts, will you look at the date…. Yeah…well…at least I do upload…even if it's very spontaneously. Like these last two chapters. Wrote them in one day. I guess the next few weeks I'll be empty again. But I will still try! After all, the finally is getting nearer and nearer.

So yeah, we're on Berk, back again.

Tell me what you think or if you want something in the reunion.

Read, review and tell your friends and family about this story

Love Kate

Chapter One hundred: Hiccup? – Yes, Dad.

Stoik, for the first time in his long life as chief, was exhausted and close to capitulation.

He didn't know what he or his people had down to anger the gods or whoever was responsible but they were suffering.

Nearly every day now those shadowy monsters rose from somewhere out of sea and stormed their island, causing havoc and destruction wherever they went.

It was similar to the dragon raids.

And when engaged in combat they were merciless and hard to kill. They could almost instantly reform themselves. The only way they stayed down for longer was to hit them right in the chest and in their hearts. Then they would turn from shadowy and bodiless into fine grey dust.

Another strange thing about those monsters: The Vikings swords and axes just passed right through their bodies, seemingly doing no harm. When they tried to wrestle with them it was like wrestling with air.

But the monsters could touch them just fine, toss them around and smash through stone easily.

It was madness.

The destruction was always so great; they could barely manage to rebuild all of it.

Thus Berk was in a constant state of destruction and reconstruction.

It wore then all down seeing their home like this, having to fight nearly every day unannounced.

Another thing that sickened Stoik was the lack of casualties. Sure, there had been dead and always his people got wounded but it was as if these monsters didn't really intend on killing them.

It was a cat-and-mouse-game. And they were the mice.

They were the entertainment for someone.

Still, he had to put on a brave façade for everyone's sake, his own included.

They had tried to contact other tribes for assistance.

They never got any answer.

Either the tribes didn't want to get involved, the news never reached them or, a thought Stoik dreaded the most, they too were attacked.

Whatever the reason, the Hooligans were on their own and for the first time muscles and cold steel weren't enough to defeat their enemy.

It scared them more than they wanted to admit.

Stoik worried for each and every one of his people.

They were cut off from the outer world and they were unsure of their future.

So imagine his surprise when the guard in one of the watchtowers shouted: "Ship ahoy! Ship straight ahead!"

Stoik snatched the spy-glass from the guard and looked into the direction the guar pointed.

And sure enough, a single small boat cut through the waves.

It was simple with two masts, an open boathouse and lots of space to maneuver on deck.

He could make out several figures on deck but they were still too far away to make out details.

Stoik watched them approach warily.

After weeks of solitude and isolation a ship should have been a good omen. But Stoik felt dread.

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Hiccup wasn't sure what he expected when Berk finally came into full view.

The sea had finally opened and the little islands had made way for open water and the Isle of Berk straight ahead.

He thought old memories would resurface or anger or nostalgia.

Instead he felt indifference.

Maybe a little bit of apprehension but that was because of the danger ahead, of the battles sure to come.

And with the apprehension came dread.

Lokis words, Odin's threats, Heimdall's prophecies and Darkness' promises, they all echoed through is head.

He thought of Namheras memories.

Where was eth flaw?

Where had the last generation gone wrong?

What mistake could they not repeat?

They all had made so many mistakes; it was hard to decipher which had been important.

Also he had lied to Kate when he had said that they were ready for battle.

He felt incomplete, as if he was missing something important.

But what?

He paced the deck like a tiger in a cage.

He wished he could take Toothless up into the sky to clear his head in the winds and clouds, see things from a different angle.

But they had, with the exception of Toothless, because he couldn't fly without Hiccup, left all their dragons on the closest island, still within calling distance but not close enough for the Vikings to spot them.

Toothless was under deck in Wills storage area and would have to remain there until Hiccup could smuggle him on Berk and hide him in the old cove.

He wasn't sure how the Vikings would react to dragons.

Loki had assured him that the raids had stopped but that meant nothing.

Well, nearly all dragons.

Cone sat on his shoulder as he paced and chewed on a fish-head.

In his hand, Hiccup held a small piece of parchment.

He wasn't sure if it was worth it or not but he had to try.

He tied the parchment to Cone's leg and held a piece of cloth to the dragon's nose.

"Deliver this to him. If you can find him." He said silently and threw Cone in the air.

The dragon flapped away.

"We'll land with the setting of the sun Will says. You should wash and put on some fresh cloths." Suddenly someone said behind him.

He turned to see Illiona.

Her hair was wet and smelled fresh.

"There is no one on that island I wish to impress with good looks." He said.

Illiona rolled with her eyes. "It was supposed to be a subtle hint at your body-odor. Don't take it personally Hiccup but you stink. When was the last time you showered, shaved and cut your hair? It's all over the place again. I'm not leaving the boat with you looking like a cave-man." She ordered.

"Yes ma'am." He replied.

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"They'll land here with sunset probably sir." One of the guards said as he accompanied Stoik down to the docks.

"Have the man stand ready. I'm not taking any chances."

"Sir, it's only a small ship with a handful people on it." The guard said.

"Do we know that for sure? If the last weeks have taught me anything, it is that nothing is as it seems and that a lot of things I always thought impossible are actually possible. So have the man stand ready."

"Yes Sir." The guard saluted and hurried off.

Stoik just stared at the approaching ship as the sun dipped down lower and lower.

"You look worried. Do you think they pose a threat?" his wife suddenly asked behind him.

He turned. Hylla looked at him concerned.

She hardly ever lay off her armor these days. You never knew when to expect an attack.

But son enough her armor wouldn't fit anymore.

They hadn't told anyone yet but Hylla was pregnant.

Stoik had always thought he was too old to have another child. And after Valhallaramas death and then Hiccups supposed death/disappearance to the gods know where (something Stoik still hadn't quite figured out) he had drawn the conclusion that he just wasn't suited for family-life.

Marrying had been a huge step.

But a child?

That was different all together.

But when Hylla had told him, he'd sworn that he would do things right this time.

He felt responsible for what happened to his first family.

He was determined to have this second family stay intact and happy.

Also he wasn't sure that Snotlout would make such a great chief.

Luckily, thanks to her marriage to Hyllas cousin, Astrid was now too an option for the post chief should the need arise.

And right now, that didn't seem so unlikely. They were at war with an unknown enemy but at war nonetheless.

"Can you blame me?" he asked silently and took her hands.

"No. But maybe they can help us." Hylla said, looking past him.

"Maybe." He agreed.

The ship was getting closer and closer.

The sun narrowed.

Around them the Hooligans gathered. They were talking anxiously with each other. Grasping weapons.

The ship was still a good hundred yards away when a cold feeling ran down Stoiks spine.

A dark cloud had formed over the sea to the far left of the boat.

And as Stoik looked, it broke and blackness poured out of it, one part racing towards the boat, the bigger part towards them.

"WEAPONS!" he shouted. "THEY ARE BACK!"

Forgotten was the boat, back was the reality. Back was the enemy.

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The attack took Hiccup by surprise.

He'd just returned from below deck, where he had washed and shaved before Illiona had attacked his hair with a small knife.

As soon as he put a foot on the last step, he saw the black cloud and thought: 'Hm, strange, it's travelling against the wind.' And then it burst open like a bubble and from its inside spilled pure evil darkness.

And some of it came their way while the rest headed for Berk.

"ALL HANDS ON DECK! WEAPONS EVERYONE! MOVE IT! WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!" he shouted, drawing his sword, but exchanging it quickly for his bow.

He notched and arrow and took aim.

As the blackness approached, he could see how it started to take for of monsters and beasts, all stuff nightmares were made from. Some took normal shapes, like dragons or giant blood-thirsty wolves. But the rest turned into horned monsters with claws, too many eyes, some with and without wings, wickedly sharp teeth and other nasty things.

When the first of them was in fire-distance Hiccup let the arrow sail through the air.

It was a perfect hit, right in the eye.

It disintegrated.

But there were dozens more to take its place.

Luckily Hiccups backup arrived on deck that moment.

"Great God, what is that?" Josh asked.

"Bad news. We gotta help the villagers. Will, concentrate on getting us ashore as quickly as possible, Josh will guard you. The rest, take out what gets at you. And be careful." Hiccup commanded.

Then he stopped when he saw the funny looks he got.

"What?"

"You're bow is glowing. So are your arrows and your sword." Hope said.

Hiccup looked down. She was right.

His bow glowed in a strong golden light, just like his arrows in the quiver. From the hilt of his sword in its sheath came a silvery glow, like moonlight.

He looked back at his friends.

"Yours too…" he remarked.

Indeed, all daggers, swords, axes and bows and arrows they carried where aglow with gold or silver light.

"What is that?" Illiona wondered, examining her dagger.

"We can think about it later, to your positions!" Hiccup ordered.

The monsters were gaining on them.

Hiccup, Conner and Kate took up their bows and fired their glowing arrows at the monsters.

Although not all of them were fatal hits they 'killed' the monsters.

Still, dozens made it to their boat and swarmed it like an angry swarm of bees.

Hiccup drew his sword and charged at the first monster that landed on deck.

It swiped at Hiccup with its clawed paw but Hiccups battle reflexes, developed in those countless battles he had experienced, kicked in and he dodged, moved in and rammed the sword into eth beast's chest.

It exploded into dust, coating Hiccup in grey dust. It stank like sulfur and burned slightly but Hiccup kept going.

They had to make it to the shore.

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Stoik would never get used to seeing his village getting destroyed.

He lunged at every monster he could get but they were so many.

And they didn't like getting disturbed.

One snarled viciously at him and hit him with its giant tail square in the chest, sending him flying into a pile of empty barrels.

Many shuttered under the impact and he groaned.

The would leave huge bruises.

He got to his knees in time to block the oncoming arm of one beast.

He sliced through it and it hissed but the arm instantly re-grew.

It pushed Stoick down brought its large mouth up to his face, tore it open and roared triumphantly.

All of Stoiks fierce kicks hit nothing but air.

The beast lowered its mouth to tear Stoiks head off but it hadn't gotten far when it suddenly stiffened and, just before it disintegrated, Stoik saw to his amazement the golden glowing tip of an arrow sticking out of the center of its forehead.

Then it turned to dust and the arrow fell onto Stoiks chest.

Puzzled he looked at it.

He picked it up and examined it. It was longer and heavier than the arrows they used but of fine quality.

"Can I have that back?" an unknown voice with a thick unfamiliar accent asked.

Stoik looked up.

A few meters away stood a teenager Stoik didn't know. He was tall with blond hair and blue eyes and white but still prominent scar on his right cheek.

He was pressed in brown pants tucked into brown boots and a grey shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a furry brown waistcoat on top to keep the boy warm. At his belt hung a sword and a quiver with arrows and in his hands he held the bow that had fire that shot that had obviously saved Stoiks live.

And like the arrow in Stoiks hands all the boy's weapons glowed in an unearthly golden and silver light.

Stoik numbly handed the boy the arrow but then his eyes widened when behind the boy a new monster appeared. He opened his mouth to say something but quicker than lightning the body had notched a new arrow and shot at the monster.

It went through the monsters chest and embedded itself in a pole.

The monsters dust was picked up by the slight breeze and carried away.

Stoik got to his feet.

He took advantage of the small break and asked cautiously: "Who are you?"

"My name is Conner O'Connell. I was on the boat that headed here. Did you see us?"

Stoik nodded. "And what do you want?" he asked.

"I…that is we…want to help."

"Help?" Stoik asked. "So you know of our problem? Where are you from? You don't look very Viking."

The Conner boy grimaced. "It's kinda a long and difficult story. Bottom line is yes, we know what's troubling you, it's been troubling us as well and we think we know how to beat it."

"You think you know?" Stoik asked.

"It's not exactly science or based on facts." Conner said.

He looked back over his shoulder.

"Listen, we'll explain everything later I guess but right now my friends need me and your people need you."

He turned to go but Stoik grabbed his shoulder and spun him around.

He held up the arrow.

"You'll need this. You saved my life. You have the chief's thanks."

He saw the boys eyes widen before he nodded and hurried off.

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Hiccup hacked and slashed his way through the familiar streets of Berk.

They had battled eth creatures that had attacked their boat just fine and Will had quickly landed them in Berk harbor.

Around them had been chaos.

Hiccup had told them to split up and help where they could and to be careful.

Now he fought alongside familiar faces.

But they didn't seem to recognize him and he concentrated on slashing, hacking and blasting the beasts with fire.

He dodged attacks, outsmarted and tricked the monsters; let them into ambushes or the waiting blades of other Vikings.

He was aware of the grateful looks and the few kind words he got between attacks.

He suppressed a snort.

If they knew the truth…

He sprinted around a corner and saw…

Fishlegs and Ruffnut battling a monster of the extra large size.

Hiccup had observed that the villagers weapons only worked when they hit the monster through the chest where the heart would be.

That made it a lot more difficult for them to fight them.

Still, they managed about fine.

Nonetheless Hiccup drew one of his special daggers and let it fly.

The glowing weapon hit the monster in the forehead and it crumpled to dust.

But instead of falling onto the ground, the dagger flew backwards as the line attached to it rewound itself in the small apparate at Hiccups belt, thus pulling the blade back to its owner. Hiccup caught the actual dagger and slipped it back into its place.

Hiccup watched with slight amusement how the two teens swirled around and stared at him with amazement.

"Thanks." Fishlegs said and wiped his forehead.

"My pleasure." Hiccup replied.

With that he turned around and hurried back to the main plaza where most of the fight seemed to be.

Fishlegs and Ruffnut followed him.

"I'm Fishlegs!" Fishlegs tried to introduce himself. "Thanks again. That dagger you have is ingenious! How does it work?"

"Like Jojo. Let's wait with the small-talk until after the fight, alright?"

With that he sprinted over to where Illiona was facing off on beast all by herself.

Running he let himself drop down, slithering over the ground and under the monster and jammed his sword upwards, right into and through the beast's belly.

It shrieked and disintegrated.

He jumped back to his feet, ready to face off the next attacker but all of a sudden the beasts took to the sky and disappeared in the clouds.

"What the…" he muttered.

"They always do that." Ruffnut said behind him.

"They come all of a sudden and they leave all of a sudden."

She looked tiered and a lot older than the last time they had seen each other. Yet not even a full year had past.

Then again, she didn't recognize him either so he too must have changed tremendously.

Hiccup saw that his friends had gathered with him.

And how the Vikings slowly approached, still hesitant and careful.

Will scowling at them probably didn't help the situation.

"Who are you?" someone asked.

Hiccup recognized Hoark the Haggard.

"We are the Companions of the Dragonmark. We know who attacked you here today. He's been targeting us as well but we think we know of a way to stop him. But it's a very long complicated story and you probably won't believe half of it. Still I need you to listen to me and we need your help. What you witness here is just the beginning bigger and worse things are to come." Hiccup explained with his voice carrying over the entire plaza.

The Vikings murmured with each other.

Then one called: "We don't want to get mixed up in your battles!"

And many shouted their agreement but Hiccup shook his head.

"This isn't our battle." He disagreed. "This isn't even a war against the Archipelago, but a war directed against all of Midgard and all of its inhabitants. My friends and I know the truth of what's out there, of what's driving these evil forces to do those horrible things all over the world. We know how to stop it. But we need you."

He tried to look as many of them in the eyes as he could, tried to show them that he meant what he said.

They were still unsure.

Until suddenly someone pushed his way through the crowd.

Someone big and tall with great red beard and a horned helmet on his head.

"One of them saved my life today. I wouldn't be standing here if it wasn't for him. Why else should they have fought with and for us? I say we hear them out!" Stoik the Vast said, addressing his people.

Turning around he started to say: "We are grateful for what you have done and welcome you to…" but his words froze when he looked at Hiccup.

And Hiccup felt his heart shatter.

For all his big talk about not missing home, about hating it, about the injustice of his father and his tribesman, looking at his father now had him forget all those complains for a second.

Hiccup had missed his father.

Despite his rough edges, Stoik had been a father. Albeit not a good one, but he had his moments and his qualities.

"Hiccup…?" Stoik whispered.

"Yes, Dad." Hiccup whispered back.