Chapter 161
Hiccups POV:
It's been two weeks since the death of Diomedes and in that time a lot has happened to get things back to normal in the city of Sparta and helping everyone recover from what happened. First thing I did after dealing with Diomedes was break open the chest and get all my stuff back, starting with my prosthetic and then my grootslang coat along with the key to Blanca's bracelet. Once my wife was free of that damn bracelet that was causing her so much pain I gave each of the leaders a drink from my Arabian pot freeing them from the mind control and bringing them back to reality. When they were back however I had a lot of explaining to do since the last thing they remembered was sharing a drink in the meeting room and then darkness. When I was finished explaining to them what happened none of them were happy, especially Leonidas who was not pleased to find out he bowed to someone when Spartans bow to nobody except their own king. The only one who was angrier than him was Hippolyta who after being informed of how Diomedes felt her up screamed in anger so loud I think they could hear her on Berk.
After that we needed to spend time getting things straightened out since while they were under Diomedes control the leaders were forced to sign some ridiculous agreements such as half the taxes gathered would go to Diomedes kingdom. If they weren't able to reach a minimum amount then they'd be forced to pay using their people by handing them over as slaves and would have to even go so far as to raid the temples dedicated to the gods. That sickened me since he gave the orders for anyone who opposed the looting of the temples including the priests themselves to be executed without mercy. As for Diomedes men, they were all sent home to their city after they explained that they were just following orders and how Diomedes threatened some of them with the recreation of his mares by feeding them their families. There were a few who were actually proud of doing what they did claiming their empire should be the ones on top as their king was the most powerful. Those men didn't last long though since with all that's happened the leaders were in no mood to listen to their trash and were immediately executed.
As for my dungeon buddies they'd been returned to their proper positions at their leaders side but we still saw each other and enjoyed some friendly sparing matches with the leaders watching us. I admit I enjoyed it but for some reason Xena had begun avoiding me even when I just wanted to have a friendly conversation with her. I knew she wasn't angry with me since I saw no anger or hatred in her eyes when I tried to talk to her but I did see admiration but it was mixed with confusion and a little fear. I told Hippolyta about this but she told me that Xena wouldn't tell her anything and would make up some excuse to avoid the questions. She did tell me that she'd checked up on Xena at night when she's asleep and hears her moan my name when she's sleeping and during the day she'd catch her stealing glances at me. I don't know what it means but I just hoped she wasn't angry with me for slapping her but she was accusing me of being someone who got everything handed to him and that makes my blood boil.
Now all the damage done to the city and the decrees were now ashes on the wind while the relationships between the kingdoms was stronger than ever with new trade routes opening up. This brings us to now which is in the palaces grand ballroom having a celebration of not only the defeat of Diomedes and repairs being finished but also the new stronger bonds between the kingdoms. I was wearing a toga made of white silk with my grootslang coat forming a sash across my chest and third arm sash around my waist while my spiderpack was underneath the toga. I was talking with the king of Argos about a possible trade route between his city and Berk while Blanca was off getting us some drinks but I couldn't help but feel the eyes of the partygoers on me. This was the one annoying thing that's happened to me since the repairs to the damage were done and with it came the gratitude of the leaders who hadn't had the chance to show their appreciation. They'd showered me and the others with treasures, praise, and thanks and in Autolycus case beautiful women and although they offered me the same I'd just wrap an arm around Blanca and tell them she was the only beautiful woman I needed in my life right now. Speaking of Blanca I looked around but couldn't see her in the large crowd making me worry a bit before I took a breath and relaxed knowing she could handle herself before I went back to the conversation.
Nobodies POV:
Blanca was walking through the crowd with a goblet of nectar in either hand looking around at the nobles socializing with each other. She sighed and shook her head since she never liked these large gatherings since it was always the same with the men trying to use her to get closer to Hiccup or the women looking at her with either disdain, envy or annoyance. She could understand this though since most of them had wanted the position of Hiccups wife and now that she was his wife and he continuously brushed them off for her so they felt as if she'd stolen him from them. Blanca could of course tell Hiccup wasn't much for these social gatherings himself but knew that they were necessary in order to strengthen the bonds, start new business relationships and of course avoid offending anyone while allowing him to avoid dealing with them later on.
It was then Blanca noticed Xena hiding behind one of the support beams, hiding in the darkness while staring at something and when she followed her gaze she saw that look was at Hiccup. Recognizing that look of one of longing and confusion, she made her way up to Xena and asked her.
"Why are you looking at my husband?" Xena who hadn't noticed Blanca jumped slightly as she turned to her before she said.
"You mean Hiccup?" Xena quickly shook her head quickly. "I wasn't staring at him, why would you think I was staring at him?" Before Blanca could reply. "Just because he's handsome, has a warriors build, possesses combat skills that surpass any warrior of my people, has the nerve to take command and has a burning fire in his soul that sends a pleasant shiver up my spine when I look into them." Blanca smiled knowingly before Xena noticed the look and glared. "Why are you looking at me like that?" Blanca just kept that same smile one her face as she said.
"You've fallen in love with him!" Xena turned to her in shock.
"What?"
"You've fallen in love with him and although I know you may be confused about your feelings it's clear to me that you now have feelings for my husband." Xena stared at her for a moment before sighing as she looked down before looking back up at Blanca.
"So what if I have?" She gestured to Blanca. "You said it yourself, he's your husband so it is impossible for me to be with him." Blanca smiled.
"I wouldn't say that!" Xena raised an eyebrow in confusion, which quickly turned to shock as Blanca's face grew scales and her eyes and hair changed while a long tail emerged from beneath her kimono. "I'm not human, I'm a snake guardian and yes Hiccup knew about what I am before we were married and accepted me for who I was." She looked down sadly. "Even when I tried to push him away when I thought we couldn't be together." She then returned to her human form as she turned back to Xena who stood there shocked but she quickly shook out of her shock.
"Alright but what does this have to do with me being able to be with Hiccup?"
"With my people it's normal for men to take more than one wife the higher they are on the social scale and with Hiccup as the leader he's able to take as many as he'd like." Xena raised an eyebrow.
"How did he become leader of your people?"
"It's a long story but I'll talk to Hiccup and try and convince him to show you and everyone else how we met and came together."
"Don't even bother." She turned away from Blanca. "I know how men who take more than one wife behave with the wives that come after their first wife." Blanca looked at her confused.
"What do you mean?"
"It's always the same with the first wife being treated like a queen while the others are treated as if they are merely there to pleasure the man or act as servants to the first wife and nothing more." Blanca then much to Xena's surprise giggled. "What's so funny?"
"The thought of Hiccup acting like that." She turned to Xena with a smile on her face. "Hiccup isn't that kind of man." She looked Xena in the eye. "If Hiccup takes you as a second wife he'll treat you with nothing but respect and he won't play favorites and treat us both equally." Xena looked down sadly.
"It doesn't matter since I have responsibilities to my people and as an Amazon I am honor bound to do these duties." She then looked down sadly. "And it's not as if he'd consider me to be good wife material."
"Hiccup can create a portal to your peoples island so you'd still be able to do your duties and why don't you think he'd think you'd be a good wife?" she looked at Blanca.
"Don't you remember the fight we had in which he slapped me for insulting him." She looked down sadly. "I didn't exactly behave kindly to him but it was then I saw that fire in his eyes that made me fall in love with him." She sighed. "After that display of mine I doubt he'd even look at me in any romantic way so it's best if I just give up now and save myself the heartache later?"
"Xena listen, Hiccup's not the type of man who holds a grudge so just give him some time, stop avoiding him when he tries to talk to you, try join him and the others in sparring matches and just try to get to know him." Xena nodded and smiled at her.
"Thank you Blanca." Blanca smiled and just nodded.
"You're welcome." She raised the goblets. "Now if you'll excuse me, my husband is most likely wondering where I am so I better get going but please remember what I said and just give Hiccup a chance and he'll do the same for you." Xena smiled and nodded.
"Just don't tell him about this talk we've had." Blanca nodded.
"It'll be our secret." With that said she gave Xena one last smile before she walked away to find Hiccup.
Four hours later
Hiccups POV:
The gathering was finally over after a few hours but for me it felt like it had lasted years since the nobles took every opportunity to try and speak with me. The majority of them wanted to simply thank me for what I had done for Greece while the others hoped to use me as a way to get closer to the leaders. Speaking of the leaders, a few of them had seen how I fought during my sparring sessions and offered me jobs as a general, trainer, bodyguard and more. I always turned them down to which they replied by making larger offers such as riches, titles, land, palaces and more but as always I turned them down. They then did something that annoyed me and tried to talk Blanca into convincing me and when she refused claiming it was my decision and not hers. Some of them tried threatening her claiming that something bad might happen to her if she doesn't help which is when I intervened while turning my prosthetic into its dragon claw form asking them if they were threatening my wife. The sight of the dragons' claw was more than enough to get them to back off in fear allowing Blanca and I some breathing room.
Now I was with Blanca making our way down the hall leading to the room we were staying in and smiled at the sight of the door knowing behind it was our bed and after tonight all I wanted was to hop into bed, hold Blanca and go to sleep. I pushed the door open and froze seeing an all too familiar figure with winged feet laying down on our bed smiling at us. Blanca immediately readied her magic in the form of a spike on her hand but before she could make a move the figure vanished from the bed and appeared next to her as he said.
"Easy there sweetheart, I'm not here to fight." He then reappeared in front of the bed I made her lower her arm before I stepped forward and bowed as I said.
"Hermes, to what do we owe this honor of a visit from the messenger of the Greek gods." Blanca gasped and immediately bowed herself.
"Just came by to collect you man, you're wanted on mount Olympus to discuss this latest adventure of yours." I sighed and shook my head.
"I should've known." I turned toBlanca but before I could say anything she put a finger to my lips silencing me.
"Just go Hiccup, I'll be waiting here for you when you get back after all," She smiled as she gently caressed my face. "I have a hard time falling asleep if I don't have my favorite pillow to rest my head on." She punctuated this last part by caressing my chest making me smile.
"Then I'll be back as soon as I can since I don't want to keep you up so late my sweet wife." She just giggled but sadly Hermes cut in ruining our moment by saying.
"Hey listen, I'm all for romance but we've got to get going since Hera doesn't like being kept waiting and she's still a little mad at you for destroying the statue of her." I let out an annoyed sigh.
"It was the first thing I could think of and I was facing a massive army being led by a lunatic."
"Good luck explaining that to the queen of the Greek gods." I sighed.
"I'm not going to have an easy time with that am I?"
"Yeah, you might want to kiss your wife one more time since you might not be coming back." Both Blanca and I glared at him and he raised his hands in defense. "Kidding." He then held out his hand to me. "Now let's get going." I took his hand and then there was a bright flash before I found myself standing outside a familiar white marble hallway as Hermes took off down it stopping only to turn to me and say. "Come on Hiccup, can't keep the gods waiting." I nodded and followed him down the hall until I was once again standing in the center of a circle of thrones with the gods sitting in the thrones and lord Zeus sitting in the one right in front of me as I bowed and said.
"Lord Zeus, you honor me with your summons." I then turned to Hera and bowed. "And lady Hera I would like to take this opportunity to apologies for the destruction of your statue in Sparta but time was limited with the advancing army and I didn't have the time to come up with another solution so I-" She held up her hand silencing me.
"It is perfectly alright Hiccup Haddock, you had no choice and doing what you did you saved my temples across Greece and you volunteered to help rebuild it which is all I desired." I nodded.
"I thank you for your forgiveness and understanding Lady Hera." Zeus then stood up.
"It is time to speak about why we brought you here Hiccup Haddock as you have no idea the impact Diomedes would have had on the world if you had not stopped him." I raised an eyebrow. "Hiccup we gods harness our power from the belief and worship of the mortals and Diomedes plan was to loot and destroy our temples while killing our priests which would've eventually lead to our demises as our worshippers would not be able to give us offerings or worship us in general for Diomedes would ensure that he would be the only one who was worshiped."
"So in defeating him-" Zeus finished.
"You saved all of Greece and our lives and for that you have our thanks and we bestow these gifts upon you." Hades stood up.
"Hiccup should you have not stopped Diomedes he would've caused chaos in the underworld and for that you have my thanks and also a gift that awaits you in the underworld in Elysian Fields." I rubbed the back of my head.
"Please accept my apologies for not visiting your realm before but I have had a difficult time finding the time as whenever I plan to visit something comes up." He smiled and nodded.
"I know as despite what you may think we do keep tabs on you and when you do visit be sure to bring the son of Fenrir."
"Adal?"
"Indeed as Cerberus has been eager to see him again." I raised an eyebrow.
"Why do I get the feeling that there's more than just friendship blooming between those two?" Aphrodite was the one who answered with.
"Trust me Hiccup, there's without a doubt something between them and it's more than friendship." Before I could reply Hades said.
"Well if they end up having cubs you will be taking them in when they're old enough as Cerberus has duties down in the underworld." I nodded.
"Can we please discuss something besides romance between the wolf I raised from a pup and the guard dog of the gates of Hades?" They all just chuckled before lord Hades spoke once more.
"Very well Hiccup, you still have the ring I gave you when Cerberus was stolen from me by the tyrant Blood Skull?" I reached back towards my spiderpack that pulled out the ring and put it into my hand. (AN: Chapter 120 guys.)
"It doesn't hurt to be prepared." Hades held out his right hand.
"Give it here a moment." I nodded and handed him the ring as Ares stood up and held his hand over the ring before there was a bright orange glow between their hands and when they pulled away there was no longer a ring but a small palm sized golden Spartan shield with a red ruby in the middle. "This shield is much like the ankh Anubis gave you to summon his warriors but you shall be able to summon fifty Spartan warriors from my realm to help you in future battles." Ares then said.
"And I've added a bit of my own power to give them a bit of a boost in power and combat abilities." Hades then said.
"Remember though they may not be of this realm but they are not invincible for should they sustain a wound that would be lethal to the living then they shall return to the underworld and shall need a day to recover before you are able to summon them again." I nodded. "Now please hold out your prosthetic hand."
I did so and Hades placed the shield in my prosthetic hand and it was pulled into my arm before I dropped to the ground in pain holding my arm up as it glowed bright orange through the cracks. This felt as if flames were being pushed into my body and flying through my veins but just as quickly as it came it ended and I was able to stand up again. I took a few deep breaths before I looked down at my prosthetic only to see the ankh I used to summon my Anubis warriors now sat on top of the Spartan shield. I looked back at Hades ready to ask how to summon the warriors but before I could ask he answered my unasked question.
"In order to summon the warriors press your hand to the ground and chant the following words." He cleared his throat. "From the flaming pits of the underworld, come forth to claim do combat once more and once again claim victory, rise Spartan warriors for I call you to fight again under my command." I nodded. "Remember Hiccup Haddock, with your Anubis warriors they will be powerful but you must act as their commander and lead them to victory." I nodded as he took his seat again and Hephaestus stood up smiling.
"If you're going to be a general then you're going to need armor worthy of the title." He held out his hands before a bright light shined between them and a leather breastplate with shoulder guards appeared between his hands. "It may not look like much but trust me it's powerful."
I took this moment to examine it and saw the shoulder guards had belts connected to the front of the chest to tighten them and the chest plate itself was made of four different strips of leather that met in the middle where they were closed together. Between each of them going up was a diamond shaped emerald making it a total of three emeralds and although it looked like a normal leather chest plate I could sense the power coming from it. The chest plate floated from Hephaestus and over to me but before I could touch it the chest plate hovered higher and turned around until it was right above me and I raised my arms. The chest plate slowly lowered itself down onto my body and tightened a bit to properly fit me before I felt a surge of power flow through my body and much to my surprise light blue runes formed on the armor projecting what looked like armor made of light blue light around me. The chest plate circled around my body with the tops curving up in the middle, decorated with gems while the shoulder guards were large with gems and three curved blades sticking out in the centers and chains dangling from both the body and the shoulder guards. (AN: If you're having trouble picturing this look up my pinterest page 'weapons from Hiccups collections' and you'll find the image there under the name Force Armor, Stephanie Knoll.) The projection then vanished, as did the runes leaving it as it did when Hephaestus first brought it into existence as he Hephaestus said.
"Like I said, there's more to that chest plate than meets the eye but that's something you'll have to find out yourself." I smiled at him.
"That's always been part of the fun when it comes to the gifts of the gods." He just chuckled as the god Dionysus stood up.
"I've watched your adventures Hiccup and I've recently noticed you haven't been taking that much time to enjoy yourself since you arrived in Greece."
"I've had to deal with a lot of things including such as making repairs to the damage Diomedes caused and dealing with the nobles who won't give me a moments peace." He smiled.
"Well when you do find some down time you can enjoy the nectar from this." He pulled out a golden amphora. "This amphora has a limitless supply of only the finest nectar that we gods drink." It floated over into my arms but felt so light as I looked up and said.
"Thank you lord Dionysus." Hephaestus then stood up once more.
"Hiccup, while you're here do you think I could have a look at your wings." I nodded and spread out my wings before Hephaestus examined them and smiled. "Time for those wings to get an upgrade." I raised an eyebrow but before I could ask what he meant he continued with. "This is going to hurt a lot so brace yourself."
He then held out his hands and they began to glow as immense pain shot through my body before I dropped to my hands and knees gritting my teeth in pain. From my back just below my wings two rows of three metal poles pushed out on either side making tears fall from my eyes as the golden feathers of my wings grew slightly longer and turned from gold to shining navy blue that was almost black in color. A new set of wings formed from the poles that had pushed out of my back while thick hooks like those of a timberjack formed on the joints of my main wings. It was then the pain finally stopped and I stood up to examine my new wings and I had to say they definitely seemed not only more powerful but also deadlier. (AN: The wings of Prey from my pinterest page mixed with the wings from Angel from X-men Apocalypse.) I turned to Hephaestus for answers but he just smiled and said.
"If you ever have to give up your gear again you'll still be able to keep your wings to help you out of some tough spots but what they can do now is something you'll have to find out for yourself." I nodded as I pulled them back in before Artemis the Greek goddess of the Hunt stood up.
"I believe it's time for my gift to you Hiccup Haddock." She lifted her hand to reveal a single golden arrow that floated up to me as Artemis said. "This single arrow was created from of the shed horns of her stag forged by Hephaestus and is a very powerful weapon for both lethal and non lethal attacks depending on your intentions towards an enemy but its abilities are something you will have to figure out for yourself." I nodded as the arrow landed in my hands and I saw it was made of pure gold but had a head that looks more like a knife blade than an arrow head, a thumb sized weight near the back that was encrusted with rubies and a solid gold fletching before it slid into my arm as Zeus stood up.
"Hiccup Haddock once again you have our thanks and we now send you back to your world with the gifts we have given you." Hermes walked up and said.
"Now let's get you back to your room and that sweet little wife of yours." I nodded smiling but before we left Hades said.
"Remember to visit the underworld some time to see your remaining gift and bring Adal to see Cerberus."
I nodded as I took Hermes hand and once again there was a bright flash and I found myself standing back in my room with Blanca staring at me from her place on the bed. She smiled at me from the bed and hopped out before walking up to me and wrapped her arm around the back of my neck making me smile. I wrapped my arms around her waist as she said.
"I take it the meeting was a good one?" I nodded. "Hera wasn't mad with you for destroying her statue?"
"She understood it was all I could do to stop Diomedes and fully forgave me when I volunteered to help rebuild it." She smiled and gently caressed my face.
"I'm glad you weren't hurt." I looked down wondering if I should tell her about the pain I endured while I was there and I'm guessing Blanca noticed since she looked at me in concern. "Hiccup, what happened?" I sighed.
"Blanca, it was nothing serious just some things that I had to endure but what I gained due to it was worth it."
"And what did you gain?" I smiled and gently caressed her face.
"I'll tell you in the morning since for now I believe it best we get some sleep."
She nodded before I took off my armor until I was wearing nothing but my pants and led her to the bed before I lay down with her lying on my chest before she drifted into the realm of sleep. As I watched her do so I let out a sigh of envy knowing I wasn't going to be able to do the same as her right now since despite the damage done by Diomedes being mostly repaired there was still a lot of work to do. On top of that I now had my new gifts from the gods and although I am grateful for them I knew they were going to bring a lot of unwanted attention to me from the nobles, leaders and the general populace like my gifts from the gods always did. I let out a quiet moan not wanting to wake up Blanca but also had to let out the groan knowing that the second word got out about how I met with the gods again I was not going to have an easy time. I'd have minimal alone time with Blanca, limited training time and absolutely no me time unless I was up in the air on Toothless since that is the one place the masses aren't able to bother me. I sighed as I stared up at the ceiling before turning to Blanca's peaceful face and gently stroked her hair as I said.
"Rest well my sweet serpent." I gently rubbed her back. "You're going to need it for the coming days." With that in mind I drifted into the realm of slumber.
AN: And that brings an end to this chapter and yes I know it's short and not that exciting but hey I'm doing the best I can here on vacation when I'm not spending time with my family. Anyway just keep this in mind when you review and the next chapter will be a bit more exciting and for those of you, who've been begging me to do Adal X Cerberus in either reviews or pms, don't worry as that is the main reason this adventure has come so be patient. Till next time I hope you had a merry Christmas, remember to review and I'll try to get the new chapter done before new years but I make no promises so until then have a nice day.