Early afternoon came quickly, but it was not too sudden that it made the doctor late for his appointment. With much time to spare, he had arrived at the agreed upon location. Like Hiccup predicted, Fishlegs had wanted to talk at the lab. As a zoologist, he spent most of his days there and felt this one should be the same. No one else was currently working, but that did not stop the Ingerman. When it was time for the appointment, Farid saw the door open and a blond-haired man stepped out, looking around for the visitor. The psychologist quickly went over and the two shook hands and exchanged names. Fishlegs started leading Farid inside and down the hallway. Gradually, the doctor became aware of a horned lizard that had moved from Fishlegs's back to his shoulder.

"I have to say, this was unexpected," Fishlegs said. "I don't think anyone I know has ever wanted to talk about Dagur."

The scientist glanced at the guest and smiled when he saw who was holding his attention. Gently, Fishlegs moved the lizard off his shoulder and held her.

"This is Meatlug. Isn't she the cutest?"

Farid was not sure if he agreed with that, but the little reptile did seem nice as she lovingly licked Fishlegs's hand.

He smiled and said, "I can see why you and Hiccup are friends. You both seem to form strong bonds with unconventional pets."

Fishlegs grinned and nodded. "Yeah, I guess you're right. You must have seen Toothless already."

"And lost a few years, but I doubt it'll be noticeable."

The two laughed as they continued walking. They stopped once they reached Fishlegs's lab. It was a large room filled with beakers, vials, chemicals, and various specimens. There were also two chairs which the scientist gestured to.

"Hiccup said you'd want to know about my experiences with Dagur. Is there anything in particular you're curious about?" he asked, sitting down and placing Meatlug back on his shoulder.

"I don't have any specific questions at the moment. I was just wondering what your relationship with him was like."

Fishlegs visibly shuddered. "It was constant torment. Hiccup caught his attention first, but then he noticed me since Hiccup and I had classes together. I couldn't seem to shake him after that."

"Hiccup mentioned challenges. Did Dagur have you do those too?"

"Yes! Those were the worst. Hiccup would get wrestled, but Dagur would make me eat the mystery meat at the cafeteria. I still feel like there might have been some human in there."

"And it was a similar situation with no bullies picking on you?"

"The exact same. That was the second best part of having to deal with Dagur. The best was meeting Hiccup. I don't think we'd have become friends if we weren't the only ones who understood what it was like to be around him. We couldn't help each other, but we could at least talk about it. That was good to relieve a lot of anxiety. Spending junior and senior year without Dagur was the best therapy, though."

Farid appeared pensive as he asked his next question. "Do you have any idea how he was with others? I'm just curious if you two saw a side of him that was different from what others saw or not."

"I doubt it was that different. He had seniors scared of him when he was just a junior. I never asked what he was like when he first got there. As for others seeing a different side…you'd probably get a better idea of that from our other friends. Snotlout and the twins–Ruffnut and Tuffnut, I mean–could give you more regarding that perspective."

Fishlegs got quiet and his body tensed. For several moments, he just frowned at the ground, but he then spoke.

"Hiccup said you think there's hope for Dagur to change. Do you really think that?"

"I really do, but he'll have to want it for himself." Farid paused, observing the change of demeanor in the other man. "Do you feel differently?"

Fishlegs started to say something, stopped, then decided he would speak after all. "I do. Dagur's violent. He killed an innocent couple for no reason besides him just feeling like it. I heard about his dad too. He's destroyed lives, Dr. Farid. Someone who could do that wouldn't want to change. Even if he did, what he did wouldn't change. People are still hurting over his actions. I think it's best for everyone if he stays where he is and isn't dealt with. I still remember how weird it was in school when we heard about it. All I could think was how lucky Hiccup and I had been for him to not kill us too."

"What was it that you heard happened at that time?"

"We didn't know the details, but we heard that the police had been called and they found Dagur with the bodies."

"He didn't leave?"

"No, and that's exactly why I think he won't change. Even other murderers normally leave. He killed the couple and just stayed there until the police came. They went to his house after that to talk with his dad, but they only found his blood on one of Dagur's knives."

"They didn't see a body?"

"They didn't, but since he was never found, it was pretty obvious Dagur just hid the body. Knowing him, he probably chopped him up and threw him into the ocean."

Fishlegs's face turned pale green as he visualized the scene. Looking at him, Farid could see that all the scientist was going to say had been said.

"I hope this helped," Fishlegs said, showing the way back out of the laboratory.

"It has. Thank you for your time." A nagging thought urged the psychologist to ask one more question before departing. "The deceased couple, did you know them?"

"Not them, but I know their daughter," Fishlegs admitted, fire showing behind his eyes. "Dagur took away her family meaninglessly. I'm just glad he was stopped before he could do that to more people."

Farid took in the words with a small nod. Then, the two said their goodbyes and the zoologist reentered the lab as the doctor left to go to the prison. Time had come for his other appointments. After a day of meeting with inmates, he was finally on his second to last client. Something seemed to be irritating the man. He kept scratching his face and arms like there were bugs crawling all over him. Apart from that strangeness, the rest of the sessions were straightforward. Farid sat patiently as he waited for Alvin and Dagur to come. There still was a lot of tension he could feel between them when they did, but the delay was not there this time. With a smirk, Dagur eyed his cuffs. Alvin looked at Farid who nodded in response, letting him know it was fine to remove them. Begrudgingly, Alvin undid the restraints and left the room.

"A charmer, isn't he?" Dagur joked, laughing what Farid was beginning to realize was his signature one.

The psychologist just smiled and motioned for him to join him at the table. Once the inmate had, Farid started the session.

"Do you remember someone by the name of Hiccup?"

This took Dagur off guard and he nodded. "Of course. We were best friends growing up. My family visited his a lot."

"Do you remember any particular instances?"

The young man paused to think and then brightened. "There was this one time when I showed him how to sharpen a rock so that it could be used as a knife. He used to be so good at creating stuff. That was the first time I got to teach him how to make anything."

A genuine smile spread over his face as he reminisced. Soon after, it faded and became unhappy.

"That was back when we could just hang out. We weren't allowed to be out of ol' Stoick's eyesight later on."

"Why was that?"

Dagur rapped his fingers on the table. "We went out to the forest. I was telling Hiccup about different dangers of the woods when I saw how scared he looked. He was such a small kid. He reminded me of a walking stick, so I wanted him to have an idea of what might see him as an easy meal. It didn't seem like that method was working. I figured that I needed to test his reflexes just in case something did attack…or at the very least, I'd prove why he needed to gain some new skills to stay safe.

"So, I sped up and got out of sight, then jumped out of some bushes like a mountain lion might do." Dagur's voice got quiet and his eyes no longer met Farid's. "He didn't respond the way I thought he would and I didn't notice the hill. Hiccup wound up falling backwards and hit his head really hard on a tree. He wasn't bleeding, which was good, but when I got him back to his home, Stoick was furious. My parents were too. I wanted to stay and wait for him to wake up so that I could tell him sorry, but they were determined we'd leave him alone. I didn't like the idea of leaving without even saying goodbye, so I rushed back into the forest and found a mouse. I was able to hollow out a little block of wood and put it over the little guy. I put it at the base of the door to his room, so he'd find it later."

Farid waited a little for an explanation but got none. "Was the mouse your way of apologizing?"

"Yeah. Plus, it reminded me of him. It was so tiny and helpless, but it still made it out there in the dangerous world by finding other means. If that's not Hiccup, I don't know what is."

"Did the visits continue as you got older?"

"No, they ended up stopping. It wasn't until high school that I saw Hiccup again. I didn't realize he was there at first. We were in different grades, so we weren't in each other's classes."

"How was it that you found out he was there?"

Dagur started to frown and clenched one hand into a fist. "Some seniors were bullying him, so I scared them off. It was a good thing I was there with him. I don't think he would've gone a day without getting picked on otherwise, but I made it clear to everyone that he was off limits. I've never liked bullies. They're cowards with nothing better to do with their time. It didn't take me long to see that Hiccup hadn't changed from when we were younger. He was still scrawny and an easy target. Instead of being prey for hungry animals, he'd be on the run from the other students."

"Did you do anything to change that?"

"Of course," Dagur answered, looking a little offended that the question even needed to be asked. "I came up with these games we could play so that he'd get tougher. Most of them were things I'd done, so I knew they worked." He started to laugh. "There's something about watching you juggle hunting knives with your eyes closed that makes people not want to mess with you. Hiccup sucked at them, though. I don't think there was a single game he won, so we'd wrestle."

"Why wrestle?"

"If he wouldn't be able to convince anyone to leave him alone, he needed to be able to handle himself in a fight. Somehow, he was even worse at that. It got a little depressing."

"Is there anyone else you played those games with?"

"Yep. Fishlegs. He was in Hiccup's classes. Kinda reminded me of him if he weren't so feeble. That's why I took him under my wing too. He was getting bullied by a lot of the other students, so I started playing games with him to help him get tougher. If he really wanted to, he could've defended himself, but he just wasn't mentally tough enough. Unsurprisingly, the two became friends after a while which was nice."

"Did they become best friends?"

"No," the inmate replied, scowling. "I was Hiccup's best friend. Fishlegs was a close second. They got each other. When Hiccup started talking all about math and science, it got boring, but Fishlegs didn't think so."

"Do you think he understood the topics better than you?"

"I just think he had more of an interest in it. I understood what Hiccup was talking about, but he'd just keep going and going and going sometimes. I don't know how he could talk about the periodic table of elements for three hours straight and not put himself to sleep."

"Were there any subjects you didn't understand?"

Dagur paused, appearing curious. "You're trying to figure out what type of student I was?"

"More or less."

The young man gave a slightly unhinged chuckle. "That's a layered question, Doc. Grade-wise, I was a good student. If I was going to be there for most of the day, I figured I might as well do a good job. Besides, bringing home a good report card might have…" Something changed behind his eyes, but it disappeared when he spoke again. "It just seemed better than wasting my time the whole day. For behavior, I'm pretty sure all of my teachers thought I was a delinquent."

"Why would they think that?"

"Because being there was boring! All day, I was stuck in a building, moving from room to room and desk to desk. Had to find a way to make things exciting. Sometimes that was seeing if I could sneak in some of my knives–which I could–or if stacking the chairs in the cafeteria would make for a good platform to jump off. It got less boring after I was reunited with Hiccup and befriended Fishy."

"Did you have any friends during your freshman and sophomore years?"

"No. Doing all that fun stuff made everyone think I was weird." Dagur began to laugh again. "They'd say I was crazy. Guess nothing's really changed."

Dagur had a far away look in his eyes, but the door opened before Farid could inquire about the reason. Alvin put the handcuffs back on the inmate.

"Stay for a moment, Doc," the CO said. "I want to talk with you about something before you go."

Farid said that he would, then told Dagur he would see him again the next day. The two went off and the psychologist waited for Alvin to return. When he did, his expression looked severe.

"You're letting him get too comfortable," he said.

"Why do you say that?"

"You shouldn't have let him not wear the handcuffs these past two times. He'll think he can do whatever he wants."

"I don't think he's a danger to me."

"You don't know who you're dealing with. Follow me."

Alvin exited the room, followed by Farid. The two walked past cells before stopping at one. The correctional officer moved to the side so that the other man could see in the cell. Inside, there was an inmate with slightly gray-ish red hair. His face was mangled to the point that Farid doubted he would have been able to recognize him even if he had known the man. It was badly scarred, but most noticeably, both of his eyes and nose were missing. His left ear had also been removed. The inmate's right hand was gone as well.

"His name's Ansson," Alvin said. "He used to be considered the most dangerous criminal here. Now look at him. He also has a permanent limp from his right leg being broken in too many places to properly mend." The officer stopped and turned to look the psychologist straight in his eyes. "You already know Dagur's a murderer. This is what he does when he's being merciful."