The psychologist went to work the next day and was greeted by some of the officers. He entered his session room and looked at the door when it opened, but Gobber was not there. In his place was the warden. Stoick was wearing a concerned expression.

"Warden, what's wrong?" Farid asked.

Not responding at first, the older man glanced around them. "Do you have a moment to talk before the sessions begin?"

"Of course."

He began to stand when Stoick gestured for him to stop. "It won't take long. We can talk in here." The warden sat down in the seat across from him. "Have you been trying to talk with inmates outside of this room?"

"No, I haven't."

This made Stoick sigh. He could tell the doctor was telling the truth which only meant one thing.

"Alvin said that I did, didn't he?"

"He mentioned something like that."

"Warden, how long has Alvin been working here?"

Stoick looked surprised by the question. "He's practically been here as long as I have. I brought him with me."

"I noticed that he had gotten into some trouble with the law before."

"Before, yes, but aren't you in the business of people changing?"

"I am, but has he changed?" Stoick stood up and Farid looked at him calmly. "This isn't to upset you."

"I'm not upset," the warden snapped, realizing afterwards how it sounded. He sighed and calmed down. "There's just been a lot going on since you've been hired. I don't blame you, but it is getting tiring with the two of you distrusting each other."

"That's understandable, but I'm just a bit curious about him. Have you been friends for a long time?"

"Very long. We've been friends since we were kids." Stoick chuckled. "He'd always make this one kid, Spitelout, shut up when he'd try to say bad things about me. I guess that's when it began. Since then, we've been around each other and just kind of wound up following each other everywhere it seemed. At least until college anyway, but before then, we were almost inseparable. Afterwards, when I got into this, I thought it would be a good way to help him. He'd get a job and could use his skills for some good use."

Stoick reminisced, then stood up and went to the door. He stopped before touching the handle.

"Also, Gobber is going to be on a short vacation after today, so another officer will be assigned to bring the inmates to you. It won't be Alvin."

"Thanks for letting me know."

The warden just nodded and left, not really feeling any better than when he had entered initially. Why could no one trust his friend?

"Maybe I am seeing things with too much sentimentality," he wondered. "If I'm the only one not seeing that Alvin's a problem, then it might not be them who's wrong."

With a grunt, he went to his office. As he did, Farid's sessions started. Gobber brought Dagur to him and left the two to talk. The redhead had a wide smile when he saw the psychologist.

"Hey, Doc," he said cheerfully.

"Hey," Farid returned. "I think we got through a lot of interesting details yesterday. There's another question I've had for a while that I was hoping you could clear up for me."

"What is it?"

"It's about that couple you killed. Why did you do it?"

Dagur seemed like he did not hear the question at first and began tracing his finger on the desk. "Why do you want to know that?"

"Because it seems random and I need to know you won't do that to anyone else if you ever are let out."

"I'm not being let out. There's no reason to lie to ourselves."

"You never know what the future holds, but you won't be if it seems like you are going to kill anyone you come in contact with." Farid paused and looked skeptical. "How did you even come in contact with them? You went to their home. They had a teenage daughter. Did you know that?"

"Yeah, I knew."

"Their daughter could have returned home from school around the same time as you were there."

"I wish she had."

Farid lifted a brow. "Did you want to kill her too?"

"No! I'd never do that," Dagur said, as though he had just been told the most horrific suggestion imaginable.

"Why is that?"

"Because…wait, have you spoken with her?"

The doctor said nothing for a moment and Dagur continued.

"Can I talk with her?"

"Why would you want to talk with her?"

"I wanted to that day, but the police showed up too soon."

"Was that why you didn't leave?"

The inmate nodded. "Yeah, I wasn't going to just run away and go into hiding. That'd defeat the whole purpose. We needed to talk."

"What do you want to talk with her about?"

"Uh-uh, Doc," he said, wagging a finger. "That's just between me and her. We can talk about it later, but she deserves to hear it first."

"Is it an apology?"

"No, I don't feel bad for what I did."

"You don't regret killing her parents?"

"They weren't her parents."

"They were to her."

The young man frowned at the psychologist. "Can I talk with her or not?"

"I don't know, Dagur. I can't make promises for other people. You're not even really allowed to have visitors since you're in solitary."

"Then, how do I get out of solitary?"

"Good behavior would probably work."

"Like I can do that here. I'm not around anybody. How do I prove that I'm a good Dagur?" he asked, faking a smile.

"Authenticity would be the biggest help."

This made the redhead sigh. "I need to talk with her. I've done a lot that's weird and half of it I honestly can't even justify, but this wasn't senseless. I had my reasons and she deserves to know why. She needs closure. I just want help getting that to her. Can you at least tell her that I'd like to talk?"

"I'll let her know."

"Thanks."

The session did not go much further than this and when everything was done for the day, Farid placed his call to the veterinary office. Heather answered and recognized his voice when he spoke.

"Doctor Farid?"

"Yes, hello, Heather. I hope you're doing fine."

"Yeah, I'm just wrapping up here. What made you call?"

"I'm calling to let you know that Dagur mentioned wanting to tell you the reason for what he did."

A silence came on the other end of the line. Heather felt like she could not breathe.

"Are you there?" Farid asked her.

"Y-yes, I'm here. He…he wants to admit why he did it?"

"That's what he said and I believe that he does."

"Why didn't he just tell you?"

"He said that you deserved to hear it first."

Heather scoffed. "Oh, so he's trying to act like he cares about fairness now. I don't want anything to do with him."

"Is that what you'd like me to tell him? I'm honestly not sure if there's even going to be a way for you two to speak, but if it's something you want to try, I'll do my best to make sure it happens."

The vet paused again. "I don't know, Doctor. I've been wanting to know that answer for so long, but…I just can't answer right now. Can I get back to you?"

"You definitely can. I'll give you my number so that you'll be able to reach me."

"That'd be great. Thanks."

Heather put the number in her phone and hung up, continuing to pack up to return home. When she arrived, she received another call. This one was from Hiccup. The veterinarian answered with a smile.

"Hiccup, hey."

"Hey! I wanted to ask how it went with Farid the other day."

With a small sigh, the young woman responded. "It went fine, but I just heard something interesting. He said Dagur wants to talk with me."

Hiccup frowned and looked at the phone as though it had personally offended him. "What?"

"Yeah, that was pretty much my reaction too."

"Did he say why?"

"Which one?"

"Either."

"Well, it seems like Dagur wants it to be a surprise, but Farid told me that he wants to tell me why he did what he did."

"What do you want to do?"

Heather sat down and put the phone on speaker so that she could lay back. "I have no idea. How can I? I've wanted to know for so long why they died, but I also don't want to be anywhere near him."

"You don't have to go alone. I could come with you. If you didn't want me to, I'm sure Astrid or Fishlegs would."

"I know and I appreciate that. I just have to think about it. Even with the glass between us, it seems too close." A pause came before a deep sigh. "He's a monster, Hiccup. For all I know, he didn't have a reason at all and just wants to see me to tell me how they suffered before finally dying."

"But you don't know for certain and I don't think Farid would've brought this to you if he didn't think Dagur meant it."

"He could be wrong."

"But he also could be able to give you those answers you've been searching for all these years. If nothing comes out of it, you really aren't any worse off than where you are right now."

Heather considered what he said and sat upright. "I guess you might be right. I still need to think about it, though. When I decide, I'll let you and Farid know."

The two said their goodbyes and each had nights filled with troubled thoughts. Part of Hiccup was so glad that Heather had a chance to find out what happened, but another part of him fully understood her concerns. What reason would a mad man have for slaughtering innocent people in their own home? Is there even any answer that would lessen the pain? He was not sure, but he hoped for her sake that there was.

That night in the prison, Dagur was doing his usual workouts. It was the only thing he could do with his time. They never gave him books or anything and there was never anyone to talk to who was worth the conversation unless Gobber was there. With him on vacation, that just left exercise. The man did not really mind, but the silence got to be annoying sometimes, so he'd talk to himself.

"Good," he said as he finished a pushup. He got faster and went lower to make it more straining. "Work for daddy."

Mostly, he just liked feeling stronger. After he switched to sit ups, he heard the door open and peeked to see who it was. There were four correctional officers. Choosing to ignore them, Dagur went back to his working out. They approached the door and one unlocked it to the inmate's surprise.

"Are we going somewhere?" he asked blandly despite the curiosity genuinely building.

The officers did not say anything. They just entered the cell, causing Dagur to get up and get a better look at them. There were more than four. Five more officers were entering and they had clubs.

"Let me guess," the prisoner said, tapping his chin, "Alvin's been talking to you?"

"The real issue is that you've been talking to Farid."

"You don't know what I've told him."

"Which is exactly what we're worried about," the officer said, stepping closer. "It seems you've been in solitary too long. You've forgotten how things run in here. Allow us to remind you."

Dagur snarled, then laughed. "Come at me, big boy," he said, getting into a fighting stance and smiling with a deranged twinkle in his eyes. "It's been too long since I've spilled some blood."