Stoick paused at Hiccup's offer. He wondered if he really wanted to know the details of his wife's tragic death. He watched Hiccup slowly walk around pick things up and show them to Toothless. He watched at the Night Fury always kept himself between him and Hiccup. He watched the subtle touches and even saw the sly sideways kiss Hiccup planted on the dragon's lips. Eventually they circled around back to the bed. He'd grabbed a couple of large bags that he used to carry tools and things in and started placing the gifts into them. When he finished he turned back around.
"So? Would you like me to look?" Hiccup asked. He nodded.
"It would be nice to know what happened."
"That's what I was thinking too." Hiccup put on of the bag's handles in Toothless mouth then picked up the other. "Then we're off." They walked to the door of the room. "If you'd like, you could come to the edge of town with us. Meet the team that watches you."
"You want me to meet my enemy?"
"You've already talked and made deals with they're leader. You may as well see what you're up against." Hiccup started his way down the stairs, Toothless in tow. They reached the front door, Color already waiting for them. He turned around before opening the door, just to watch as his father began down the stairs grumbling about how he couldn't believe that he was doing this. Hiccup opened the door, allowing Color out first.
"Gather your team at the entrance we came in at please." Color nodded and quickly flew off. Hiccup took the bag out of Toothless' mouth. "Go scout out a route for us." Toothless snuck out to couple of houses down and waited. Hiccup handed Stoick the bag he'd been holding. "Ready?" Stoick looked at Hiccup annoyed. "Good." Hiccup looked down the street then bolted across the gap.
Stoick casually walked out his door and shut it behind himself. Hiccup quickly crossed the gaps in houses catching up to Toothless. Again Toothless went forward and waited. Stoick simply walked behind them as they played leapfrog. Slowly they made it to the edge of town.
They waited for a minute until Color appeared.
"Are you sure about this?" She asked. Hiccup nodded. Quickly dragons poured out of the tree line. And lastly The Whispering Death's tail stuck up through the ground.
"Good we're all here." Hiccup turned around. "Dad, please meet the group tasked with watching you. They've all been hand picked, trained to the highest standard we have, and each one is as dangerous as the last. But we hope they never have to actually be as dangerous as they are.
Like I said, they're here to watch not fight." Stoick was in awe at the small army that had come to greet them. The most surprising was the one directly under his feet. It made him nervous just thinking about it. And what was making it worse was that someone just jumped in front of him with a sword drawn.
Hiccup watched his father's face turn from his natural frown to one of dread. He wiped his face and rolled his eyes.
"Stand back Stoick!" The man yelled. He swung his sword back and forth deciding who was most dangerous to him. The small army of dragons stared at the man and the tail that had been present disappeared, then reappeared behind the man. Hiccup walked forward towards them.
"This is cute an all but I'm just going to grab that bag Stoick is carrying and leave now." He took a couple more steps and held out his hand. He quickly found the point of a sword at his neck. Stoick watched as the dragons were nearly instantly ready to deal with the situation in a moments notice. The dragon he now knew as Color was gone, Hiccup's personal guardian smoking at the mouth, The Whispering Death's tail raised much higher into the air and spines flayed out ready to whip the man. Stoick could easily tell that this was going to get out of hand if he didn't do anything. He stepped forward and pulled the man away from Hiccup. At the same time he held out the bag to him which Hiccup took.
"Stoick what are you doing?" The man pulled himself away from Stoick's grip.
"Thank you for trying to protect me but getting yourself killed for no reason is foolish."
"Foolish? I had our greatest enemy right at the tip of my sword. I could have killed him."
"And the second you did, everyone on Berk dies."
"What?"
"There is a lot more here than you think." Stoick looked at Hiccup, then back at him. "And you didn't even realize that there were two of them behind you." The man finally looked around, seeing the nearly eight foot whip sticking out of the ground, and the Changewing using Stoick as a shield.
"Okay well we're going to leave now. Dad it was nice seeing you again. It went much better than I expected, and hey if we can work something out, I'll come see you more often. Maybe next Snoggletog or something, your birthday maybe. And actually one last thing." He paused for a second. "If you want to see Helheim's gate after all these years, sail one ship out and when you can see it, fly the Berk flag and your white flag together. I'll make sure that everyone knows so they won't attack you. I'll come out, we'll pick you up and bring, you, in." Hiccup emphasized. He looked his dad dead in the eye. "But if you show any hostility, well you know what will happen." Stoick nodded.
"Goodbye, son." Stoick turned around, dragging the guard with him. Hiccup watched him leave, his breath stuck in his throat. He took a deep breath.
"Okay everyone, let's uhm, go regroup, and I'll give you orders from there." The hoard made its way back to the area they joined up before. By the time Hiccup arrived a fire was lit and many of the others were conversing between each other. As he entered the clearing they all stopped and looked at him. "Is everyone here?" He asked. Getting no response at to who was missing he began. "I'd like to thank you all for your cooperation. This went much smoother than I had anticipated. But I let them know of our existence. If that guard hadn't seen us it wouldn't have been a problem but now word will spread and it's likely that some of the more zealous will form groups to come look for you. I'm sorry for adding more danger to your lives. Because of this I'm ordering you all to go back home. Or where ever you please. Please do remain in contact with Color so that you know when you'll deployed again. I don't plan for it to be for a couple of weeks, but do try to remain in contact." He looked around again. "Again thank you all, and you're dismissed."
