Dagur thought of Alvin's words when he was back in his cell. He was not sure what exactly would be his punishment this time, but to his surprise, the Outcast left after removing the chains. Still, the Berserker did not feel relieved by this sight. To him, it just meant that the plan required more time for it to be executed. In the meantime, there was nothing for him to do but wait.

The Berserker's stomach grumbled and he frowned at it angrily. He could go longer without food. He had done so in the past just to see if he could, but there was something about the injuries which was making it more difficult to have an empty stomach. Dagur rubbed his wrists where they had been manacled and looked around the cell. There had to be something he could do. There had to be a way out. He refused to remain there indefinitely no matter what Alvin thought.

Carefully, the prisoner went by the walls and inspected them. If there was a hole, then he would be able to work with that and enlarge it enough to escape. So, of course this was the one part of the prison which was not dilapidated. Dagur scowled at this realization. He had no way of breaking out. The cells were designed to hold prisoners far larger than he was, so he just had to get bigger. Dismissing the pain in his shoulder, he began doing pushups.

"You're not supposed to do that," the annoying prisoner said. "Did you hear me?"

Dagur ignored the viking and kept going. He would not have to listen to him for long if he escaped. Suddenly, he stopped as his face paled.

"Where would I go if I escaped?" he thought. "As soon as I'm out, Alvin will attack Berserker Island. He might even have vikings positioned there now, waiting on the signal to kill everyone. I can't get them slaughtered, but I can't stay here either."

Not knowing what else to do, he continued the pushups, then moved onto other workouts. The viking did this until he heard the sound of footsteps. There were more than usual, so he knew Alvin was not alone. Dagur stood up and began peering around the corner as much as he could. Horrified, he recognized the person with Alvin.

"I've brought a guest today," the Outcast said, smiling.

His hand was on the shoulder of a Berserker girl. Dagur lunged at the bars, reaching for Alvin.

"Take her back home," he hissed. "She's too young to even be in my armada."

"I don't care about that. She's still a Berserker."

"But she didn't do anything!"

Alvin shrugged and raised his sword to the shaking viking's neck. "I guess you wouldn't want to do anything to cause her to get hurt then."

He shoved her towards the Outcasts who resumed the position with them pointing their weapons at her.

"Ch-chief," she said fearfully.

More than anything, Dagur wanted to kill every Outcast in the prison and be able to return the viking home and not only because it meant he would go back as well. Alvin entered the cell and he stood his ground.

"What do you want? Do you feel tough by threatening a little kid?"

"You aren't restrained this time," Alvin noted. "That doesn't matter, though. We're going to fight…or more accurately, I'm going to attack you and you're not going to do anything."

"I never can," the Berserker said bitterly.

"True, but with the restraints, you might have it in your mind that you could do something if you weren't wearing them. I want to remove that delusion. No dodging and no hitting. You're not taking it because you have to, you're taking it because I'm telling you to."

Dagur scowled and looked at the frightened viking. "How do I even know if you'll take her back without hurting or killing her? You're treacherous after all."

"You don't and won't, but that's the issue that comes with being someone's prisoner. You don't have any say in what happens, so do you want to risk taking the option where she'll definitely be hurt?"

The prisoner saw a punch coming. He could have moved quickly enough to avoid it, but he did not. It knocked the wind out of him and sent him into the back wall. Not wanting to get back up, he stayed where he was.

"That doesn't count," Alvin said.

"Why doesn't it?" he complained. "I didn't dodge. I didn't hit you."

"It doesn't because I decided that it doesn't. You can't stay down. Get back up."

Grumbling, the Berserker got back to his feet only to be kicked down again this time in the head. It proceeded like this for a while until Alvin got bored. He wiped the blood off his hands and onto his tunic.

"That's enough for now. I wouldn't want you to not be able to do the work for that old viking in the morning." The Outcast left him and locked the bars again. "Take the girl back to her parents."

The other vikings began forcing the little Berserker to go back to the docks so that they could sail her home again. As she was pushed forward, she looked at the prisoner, sadness in her eyes. Dagur was still on the ground, grimacing. He spat out some blood and tried to not focus on the throbbing in his head.

"You should've fought back," the other prisoner said, sounding disappointed.

"Be quiet," the boy groaned.

Everything sounded so loud at the moment that the other viking's voice seemed to bounce around in his skull. He hated the noise. Dagur wanted to sleep to forget about the pain and the embarrassment, but the sounds prevented this. Maybe he could still try to be productive. He attempted a situp, but stopped as a sharp pain was felt. It was like one of his ribs was messed up worse than it had been in the previous visit from Alvin. Dagur hoped it was not broken and decided that he would work out more another day. He still had to do work later, so he could not use all his energy.

Before he had even kept his eyes closed long enough to be in slightly less discomfort, Alvin returned with his chains. It was time to go. They went back to the ship, but instead of returning to the Southern Markets, they followed a map given to the Outcast by the elderly buyer. They were not too far from the island and arrived in time for it to be dawn. The viking was waiting for them with an elderly lady and hobbled down to get them. Alvin undid the chains and pushed Dagur towards the other vikings.

"I'll be back at sunset," he reminded them.

"That works for me," the older man said.

Dagur frowned at Alvin as he left, then turned to the other two. "Where did you want those homes?"

"Right here," the woman said, gesturing to where they were standing.

The Berserker blinked at her for several seconds. "Here? The dock's right here. They'll be down in the first storm when the waves hit them. I'm not building them twice. That's a waste of time."

"Then, build them so they won't get ruined," the man added.

"I'm not a master builder. You'd need an act of Thor to make this a good spot. Why not just have them somewhere else? The rest of the island is right over there," he said, gesturing with his hand.

The older viking frowned. "We want them here. If you can't do that, then we could just go with the original plan of me taking your eyes."

Dagur snarled at him. "I'd like to see you try, old man."

"He wouldn't have to. We'd just wait for Alvin to get back," the woman chimed in.

Deflated, the Berserker just glared. "What do you want them made out of?"

"Wood will be fine."

"I'll need something to cut down the trees."

"No, Alvin warned me about you. There are some smaller trees in the forest. You shouldn't need anything to take them down."

"It'll be faster if I can have an ax."

"More dangerous too."

Scowling, Dagur turned and went towards the tall trees he saw. This was going to be even trickier than he had anticipated. To make matters worse, his entire body ached from the attack that morning. He could not let that get in the way of his work, though. One complaint to Alvin and who knew what that would mean. Dagur found a tree that was thinner and began pushing it, causing it to lean until the roots were out of the ground. It would have been easier if he had been able to eat something, but everything from the lack of food to the regurgitation and Alvin visits left him not feeling his best. After the third tree, the Berserker stopped.

"No one's here," he thought, subtly looking around to be sure he was right. "I could leave and no one would know. I could kill that old guy, his wife or whatever, and take a ship to get to Berserker Island. Alvin couldn't find out that quickly. As soon as I'm there, I'll be in the clear. We could wipe out the Outcasts." He frowned at himself. "I should have done that the first time. I wouldn't even be in this mess right now."

Dagur stepped away from the lumber to head to the edge of the island and look at the ocean. With a glare, he saw an unpleasant sight. One of the Outcasts was in a ship off the coast. He had a Terrible Terror on the boat with him. Hatred filled the former chief and he went back to the trees to lift and haul them back to the harbor.

"He'll send an alert as soon as he sees anything suspicious. I can't risk it. I have to stay here for now."

When he got back to where the homes were supposed to be built, he began his work. This was new for him, so part of him hoped that he was doing it right while the other part hoped it fell on the new residents and crushed them in their sleep. Dagur laughed at the thought, working more eagerly.

"Stop that," the woman ordered, an uncomfortable look on her face.

"Hey, you rent the Deranged and you get deranged. You should've done your research first."

"We didn't need to. We know about Berserkers."

The man nodded, wearing a grim expression. "That we do. Most aren't as weird as you are."

Dagur's frown deepened as he began setting up a wall. "You don't have to tell me."

"They're all bad, though."

This got the former chief to turn with a growl. "Want to say that again?"

Despite losing some of his nerve, the viking continued. "Everyone knows it. They just hurt people. Went through that with our daughter. We really wanted Berserkers to get defeated ever since learning of the age of the Skrills. You people are menaces. It's only fair that now one of you is paying for it."

"Well, I didn't have a Skrill for long," Dagur grumbled, looking back at the home and putting up the second wall.

"If you had, you probably would have tried to kill everyone in the archipelago your island is in."

"This island is looking like a pretty good spot to destroy actually," he thought.

Dagur did not say anything else to the other vikings as he worked. He got more annoyed by feeling their eyes on him, but he supposed that there was nothing he could do to make them leave until the homes were finished.

"That's not right," the man said.

"How isn't it? A home needs four walls and you've got that."

The viking pointed to his right. "That one is slanted."

"No, it's not."

"I'm looking at it."

"Look again," Dagur said through gritted teeth.

The Berserker's posture tensed as he saw three Outcasts approaching. Alvin was not with them, but they still had glares on their faces which reminded him of their leader. They looked between the prisoner and the clients.

"Is there a problem?"

"No."

"He won't fix the homes the way he's supposed to," the woman stated.

"Because they're going senile. The homes are fine."

They looked back at the building, then Dagur. "Fix it, maggot."

"I'm not a maggot and I'm not fixing it. There's nothing to fix!" Dagur angrily pointed at the walls. "Find what's wrong and I'll fix it. You can't because there's nothing wrong with it!"

The Outcasts actually did not see what the older couple saw, but they still glared and inspected the home. When they did, they became frustrated by seeing nothing. This frustration did not last long as an idea came to them. The trio took out their clubs and began destroying the home. Dagur's jaw dropped and he was tempted to charge at the vikings, knocking them unconscious before he threw them into the ocean to drown.

"There," one said. "Now, I see what needs to be fixed: everything. Get to it, maggot. Alvin will be back tonight, so you better have some progress to show him or he might change his mind on this arrangement."

Seething, Dagur went back to the forest and began getting more lumber. He repeated what he had done, this time to the clients' satisfaction even though he had done nothing differently. When Alvin arrived, the sun had not yet set.

"You're early," the Berserker noted suspiciously.

"I guess you never know when I'll show up, but you still have a week to finish everything." He looked over the work and commented, "I see why you weren't a builder," earning a scowl from the prisoner.

"If you can do better, be my guest."

A flash of gray caught Dagur's eye as a sword went into his side. He grunted and clutched at the wound.

"You've got a bad attitude," Alvin said, getting the chains and attaching them again.

"Yes, he does!" the husband chimed in. "A smart mouth too. Vikings aren't taught to respect their elders anymore. He's been disrespectful all day."

The Outcast scowled at the bleeding prisoner. "That'll change soon. Even you aren't stupid enough for it not to."

He hit the Berserker with the hilt of the sword, then resheathed the weapon. He grabbed the chain attached to his neck with one hand and used the other to punch. When he was done, Alvin had an inquisitive look on his face.

"Are you going to start talking with more respect to me and my clients now?"

When he did not get an answer, he lifted the sword again, but Dagur nodded.

"Good. Let's practice. I just decided to not cut off your ear today. What should you say in response?"

Dagur tried to keep the glower off his face. "Thanks," he said in a tone that was almost convincing.

"Not bad, but you'll need to get better at that." Alvin began pulling on the chain. "Let's go back."

Painfully, the prisoner followed him back to the ship. Unbeknownst to him, the Outcast's earlier arrival had a reason. On Berk, a Terrible Terror was flying with a small note tied to its back. It kept flying until it reached the Dragon Training Academy. The twins were in the middle of testing out how large the blasts from Barf and Belch could be when Hiccup saw the little dragon in the line of fire.

"Wait!" he called out, stopping them in time.

The Zippleback stopped, letting the gas get blown away by the wind before it could be ignited. Sadly, the twins looked at their failed attempt.

"You ruined it," Tuff said unhappily. "That was going to be awesome."

"It was also going to kill this Terror," the heir explained, letting the dragon perch on his arm.

"No one told him to show up in the middle of us making history with the biggest explosion ever made by vikings."

Snotlout rolled his eyes. "At least you've already made history by being the biggest muttonheads in all of Berk."

"Actually, Snotlout," Astrid added, "you beat them with that."

"Of course I beat…shut up, Astrid."

As the four kept talking, Fishlegs went over to Hiccup to see the note. "Who was it from?"

"Alvin. He said that one of the Terrors we gave him seems injured and he isn't sure how to heal him." Hiccup got on Toothless's saddle and got the others' attention. "I'll be back after I check on a Terrible Terror on Outcast Island."

"Did Alvin hurt it?" Astrid asked.

"I don't think he would've done that."

"It seems weird that he wants you to come all the way over there for a Terror."

The brown-haired boy shrugged. "Maybe it's him showing that he respects that we care about dragons now. Even if this is an overreaction, I appreciate him letting us know. Besides, if it's just a false alarm, I'll be back soon."

Though not convinced, Astrid watched the pair fly off the island. Hiccup also felt like this was weird, but he could not pass up a chance to help a dragon in need. When he saw the Outcast leader, he and Toothless landed.

"I'm glad you were able to come here and that you gave us two of these dragons," Alvin said gratefully.

"Of course. Where is he?"

"Over here."

Alvin began leading the way and Hiccup stopped when he saw they were about to enter the prison.

"Why are we going in there?"

"That's where I'm keeping the dragon. The bright light seems to hurt it and this is the darkest spot on the island."

Nodding but still doubtful, Hiccup followed Alvin in. They did not go all the way to the back this time and the Berkian was handed the dragon. Checking him over, he patted the reptile's head.

"I think he's just dehydrated. He doesn't seem like he's injured or sick."

"That's good then."

Hiccup paused, eyes wandering to the back of the prison.

"You're free to talk with him again if you'd like," Alvin said.

"Well, I was just coming to help the Terror."

Hiccup's gaze did not move from its location and Alvin started walking towards the exit. As he did, the Berkian did not follow.

"Maybe for a moment," he said, getting a nod from Alvin who changed his course so that he was walking towards the cell.

They stopped walking when they got to the Berserker's cell. Hiccup felt something odd in his stomach and turned to Alvin.

"Why's there always so much blood?" he asked suspiciously.

Alvin sighed. "I give the prisoners supervised time to get out of their cells and have some sunlight. He doesn't play well with others."

Hiccup looked back at Dagur who just glared at the Outcast. "Really? It was from other prisoners?" he asked the dark-haired man.

"What can I say? That's what happened. Isn't that right?" The smug expression turned cold as he awaited a response. "Isn't that right, Dagur?"

"Yeah," the prisoner said quietly. "I'm not too popular here."

Alvin looked nonchalant. "Good thing my guards and I can stop them. The Berserkers are better off without him. He can't even defend himself from some lowly criminals. I'm not sure how he was supposed to defend them from invaders."

Dagur was furious in the cell and thought of a million things he could have said which would have enraged the Outcast, but he settled for using none of them. They would just hurt him or his people in the long-run. Alvin went over to the cell and peered down.

"It's better that you're in there. Don't you agree?"

The Berserker just snarled and Alvin's hand went to the hilt of his sword. It was on the other side of where Hiccup was standing, so the Berkian could not see. He just saw the viciousness fade in Dagur's eyes and resemble defeat. He nodded his head and the Outcast smirked.

"If you want to talk to him, go right ahead. I've got some work to do, so thank you for coming to check on the dragon and I'll see you next time."

"See you, Alvin."

As the Outcast left, Dagur scowled after him. "It's not better that I'm in here," he said bitterly. He looked at the dragon in Hiccup's arms. "He didn't really need help with it. He just wanted you to come back here and see me defeated, but I'm not."

The younger viking sighed. "Tricking vikings again. I'm not sure why I'm surprised."

"Me neither. I do it all the time. I'll never be broken, so you lose, Hiccup."

Hiccup paused, frowning. "My goal isn't to break you."

"Whatever you have to tell yourself."

"It's not." When the Berserker rolled his eyes, Hiccup frowned again. "It probably was the other prisoners who beat you up. You don't know how to get along with people at all. You never have. Even as kids, you were a jerk."

Dagur looked offended. "We weren't enemies then."

"Only because I didn't have Toothless or enough confidence. You treated me horribly."

"What are you talking about? We always had fun together."

Hiccup gawked at him. "You used to bully me. How would I have had fun?"

The Berserker was shocked, then he frowned. "I never bullied you. Bullies beat you up, take your things, and call you names. I never did that. Snothat would make fun of you and now you're friends. I didn't and was a bully all of a sudden? How does that make sense?"

"Because maybe you never called me dragon bait or any of that, but you used to throw knives at me. You even did when you came by for the signing."

"And you've got pretty good reflexes. You were always so clumsy, so that helped."

"It helped?"

"You never got eaten by a dragon, so I'd say so."

"Because my dad and Gobber protected me. Not because of anything you did. What was the point of trying to drown me?"

"You're upset about that too?! We laughed about that!"

"I was wheezing."

"Yeah, from laughter. You even laughed when you brought it up last time."

"The first time, I was wheezing since I had inhaled so much water. The second time was just me being nervous." Hiccup sighed at the Berserker's appalled expression. "You really didn't know?"

Dagur shook his head. "No. I thought we were just playing."

"What about Fishlegs?"

"What about him?"

"Were you not trying to bully him either with the cage and rotten cod heads?"

"No. That's a type of training Berserkers do sometimes. We do it in case we're ever imprisoned." Dagur gestured to the cell. "It can come in handy to have a strong constitution."

"Well, I don't think he saw it that way. You practically traumatized him."

"Not more than possible captors would have. I was preparing him for anything."

Annoyance filled Hiccup. "I'm really not sure why you think things like that are all right. Fishlegs doesn't necessarily make it a secret when he's scared."

Briefly, Dagur's certainty faltered. "It's hard knowing how vikings are feeling sometimes. I just assume it's the same for them as it is for me. That's what I did with you. I was having fun, so I figured you were too. You never said you weren't."

"I didn't because I didn't think it would matter. It just seemed like I had another viking who thought I was pathetic and wanted me to feel weak."

Hearing the sadness in his voice, Toothless nuzzled his head against him. Hiccup gratefully petted the dragon.

"At least with Snotlout, he would just say stuff that everyone was thinking. You would do things that gave people new doubts about me. With you being a future chief, if I couldn't keep from being picked on by you alone, it didn't give them a lot of confidence that I'd be able to keep Berk safe from you and your armada. The little faith they did have in me would vanish as soon as you'd show up. Then, they'd really look at me like I was a disappointment."

Dagur was quiet for a moment, making Hiccup wonder if any of what he had said had sunk in or been entirely ignored.

"I'm sorry."

Hiccup's eyes widened. "You are?'

"It sucks when your vikings don't respect you," the older boy said, frowning. "They can be so judgy. It doesn't take much for them to turn against you and being different from the start doesn't help any. I didn't know I was making things harder for you. I wasn't trying to make you look bad in front of them."

Still surprised, the Berkian's expression softened. "I guess it wouldn't have hurt if I told you what I thought instead of going along with everything. I didn't think you had it in you to apologize."

"If I'm wrong, I can admit that."

"What about the war?"

"I said if I'm wrong."

Hiccup shook his head. "Oh gods. I guess that's still something at least. If you start being nicer, the other prisoners might not attack you." Dagur's face clouded over and Hiccup noticed. "It's not them, is it?"

"I outsmarted Alvin. You could say he's a little bitter." He started to frown at the floor. "The same viking everyone's always said was defective and stupid outsmarted him. Yeah, he's real happy about that."

Hiccup heard an uncommon emotion in the other viking's voice. Before he could say something, he heard his name being called by Alvin. It was going to be time for lights out soon (even if there were hardly any lights as it was). He looked at the Night Fury, then the Berserker. Dagur was still looking at the ground before looking back at him. His gaze was not hateful this time, instead just seeming deep in thought.

"Are you coming back?"

Hiccup did not expect the question and shrugged. "I don't know."

He anticipated anger or joy, but he just got a shrug. "If it's this week during the day, I'll be working on an island."

"Oh, that's…different. What island?"

"Just west of the Southern Markets. You have to go past a little cluster of big boulders first."

"I've never been over there. What are you doing?"

"Home building. I'm a builder now."

"Hiccup," Alvin called again.

"I'm on my way out," Hiccup told him, calling over his shoulder. He looked back at Dagur. "For what it's worth, I never thought you were stupid. Deranged or not, I always thought you were clever."

It was Dagur's turn to be surprised and he watched as Hiccup left. A half smirk crossed his face before he chuckled.

"Deranged but clever," he mused, laughing. "I like that."