The Berserker ships sailed to the Berkian shore. Throughout the trip, pD was being nearly bombarded with "advice" on how to behave when they arrived.
"Also," fD continued, taking a breath, "don't try to throw knives at Hiccup or mention the whole fed Fishlegs rotten cod heads while he was locked up thing."
PD shot up from his seat. "What? How else is Hiccup supposed to learn agility if he doesn't have some incentive? And you can't make me think that Fishy wouldn't be the first to crack after being abducted. If he can handle me kidnapping him, he'll be fine."
FD rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Remember, I get the rationale, but that doesn't change the fact that no one else does." The teenager scrunched up his face. "Just don't seem like you're trying to kill them, okay?" the seasoned chief requested.
"Fine," pD said with a huff. "Can I not try to drown Hiccup either?" he asked, sarcastically.
"Actually, no, you shouldn't," the boy was told.
PD let out a loud grunt. "When you don't remember seeing Hiccup around because he doesn't know how to prevent himself from drowning in the future, we'll both know why!"
Another knock came on the door. "Chief, are you all right?"
PD opened his mouth to complain about his visitor, but recalled what he had been told about who could see the older Dagur.
"I'm fine, Harold. We should be close to Berk now, so get prepped for docking." As they started to pull into the dock, the young chief felt more nervous. "What should I say? I'm guessing not, 'good weather for some dragon training, huh?""
FD laughed. "No, I'd avoid saying that if I were you. Just be sincere. There'll be some parts when you should say what I tell you, but you can handle most of it."
They both felt the vessel come to a halt and simultaneously took a deep breath. PD went to the top deck of his ship and awaited his announcement. Hearing Harold say, "Cracker of skulls" and all of those other violent things about him suddenly did not seem like such a brilliant notion.
"Forgot I told him to say that," he whispered to the elder chief.
FD grimaced. "Me too. Oh, and there's this Hideous Zippleback that'll be running around. They'll try to keep it a secret from you."
Before the teenaged Berserker could comment, he was shooed down the ship's ramp, seeing the horrified faces of his Berkian allies.
"Greet them calmly," fD instructed.
PD tried to not show his anxiety. "Chief Stoick, Gobber, Hiccup."
With each name said, he dipped his head in the Viking's direction. The Berkians raised their brows and FD gave him two thumbs up.
"Where's your father, Dagur?" Stoick asked, looking past the Berserker and into the vessel, hopefully.
Even the boy's future self felt a bit hurt as he recalled how disappointed the Berkians used to be to see him. "Answer honestly, but don't disclose too much," he said.
The younger Berserker had been thinking of things to say on the sail over, so he used his best idea. "My father has been unavailable for some time due to new work that he's found. In his absence, I've been the head of the Berserkers."
Stoick's brows furrowed. "That's not like Oswald to miss one of these signings," he thought aloud.
The Berkian welder looked to his left, seeing the tail of a Zippleback. "Well, let's get those papers so that you can be on your way," Gobber commented, wanting to provide a diversion.
They started going in the direction of the Great Hall.
"Suggest altering the alliance that you have," fD said.
PD cleared his throat. "I was thinking," he balked, hearing Stoick make a small grunt of disbelief, "that we could improve our alliance."
The elder chief continued walking towards the Hall. "There's nothing to improve, Dagur. Our tribes have been at peace for a long time without the need of adaptation. If your father were here, he'd agree."
Undeterred, Dagur pressed the matter. "We've been more of acquaintances than allies. It wouldn't hurt if we did something beyond just not waging war against each other. For instance, we've got a lot of Willow Bark on Berserker Island. If you guys ran out, we could help. See?"
Though Stoick and Gobber did not slow down their paces, their expressions did change.
"That's actually not a bad idea," Hiccup admitted.
The edges of Dagur's mouth were tempted to go upwards. To ruin the moment, a loud dragon roar was heard. PD sent fD a look.
"To be honest, it would be more strange if you didn't react to that," the Viking conceded to him.
As soon as pD turned, Hiccup pretended that his stomach had growled. "I should go check on something," the young Berkian said, rushing off in the direction of the reptile.
The rest of the walk was short and the Vikings sat down at a table filled with food. Some of the other Berkians eyed Dagur, curiously.
"Where's Oswald?" He heard one ask.
There was hardly enough silence to hear yourself think, what with all the Berkians singing Oswald's praises.
"And this one time," Mulch started, laughing with joy, "Oswald came up with the smartest idea! Oh, he is the best."
While they were doing this, the older Dagur kept trying to calm down his younger self.
"Try not to let it get to you," he suggested.
PD stabbed a mutton leg, with a bit more force than what would be considered normal. Glancing down near where he stabbed, pD saw his copy of the treaty being slid over to him by Gobber. Stoick was given his next and was about to sign.
"Are we signing with the new agreement?" Dagur inquired.
The Berkian stopped before he could mark the scroll. "I'm not sure if we should," he said.
FD interrupted pD's thoughts of frustration. "In a few minutes, the Zippleback is going to be back here."
Getting the hint, pD recommended, "There's something that I need to take care of, so how about we meet back up in a few minutes?"
Still hesitant, Stoick conceded. Dagur left the Great Hall and went to his ship, positively steaming.
"'I'm not sure'?!" he yelled, punching a wall. "There's no down side to this deal! If you don't need help, nothing happens and if you do, you get some. Bam! Perfect alliance."
"It's not the idea he's unsure about. It's you. He still hasn't seen enough to make him feel comfortable with having you instead of Dad," fD stated.
PD looked at him glumly. "How do I change that now? We need to sign this today."
FD sighed. "In my experience, it takes time. He might not sign that deal, but over time, I can see it happening."
PD groaned and left the ship. Once he had, he saw Hiccup and headed over. The smaller Viking looked exceedingly more nervous as the larger boy approached him.
"H-hey, how's the signing going?" Hiccup asked, thinking that he was being inconspicuous, though he nearly grimaced every time the dragon made a loud shuffle in the village.
"Not great," the chief grumbled. Dagur paused, "Hiccup, I-I want to apologize for some of the things I've done to you." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I've been told that apparently agility practice and water training aren't normal activities to have between friends."
Despite not necessarily agreeing with them being friends, Hiccup was surprised by the apology. "I guess, I could have mentioned something too about it. I appreciate the apology," he said, sincere and shocked.
"And I haven't seen Fishlegs anywhere, so could you pass on that I'm sorry about the whole cage and cod thing?" the Berserker requested.
Hiccup nodded. "I'll let him know."
In the Great Hall, the Berkians had just shooed Barf and Belch away.
"Good thing Dagur wasn't here to see that," Stoick said.
Gobber shrugged. "I don't know. He might have been okay with it." Before Stoick could question his sanity, Gobber recommenced, "Obviously, he's always been a bit off, but he's seemed fine today."
"And that's my concern," the chief stated. "He's unpredictable. Maybe he'll be fine today and want to attack tomorrow? Our peace has always worked because of the lack of interaction. Even despite how peaceful Oswald is, his people are still berserk."
Gobber scratched his chin. "Looks to me like taking over Oswald's position has helped Dagur mature some. We could give him a chance."
Stoick glared at the peace treaty like it was his greatest enemy, then sighed. "Why didn't Oswald just come? If he'd suggested it at all in the first place, I'd consider signing with him."
The older Berkian toyed with the rock in his mouth. "I doubt that he's away because of work. Not sure what else it could be, but I'm pretty sure that was a lie. Just because of who Oswald is. He's come here sick beyond his wits, his nose buried in work, and a baby on the way. He's never missed one of these signings."
Stoick sat up in his chair. "Another reason to not trust Dagur. He's a liar."
At this, Gobber laughed. "Thinking back to a couple of minutes ago when we tried to keep our dragons from being seen, I don't think we can get judgey."
By now, Stoick had stopped listening, thinking about his next move. "I have a way that we can find out if Oswald's back on the island or not."
Hiccup had run off to the training arena, hoping to find either Barf and Belch or the twins, so Stoick and Gobber returned to a knife-sharpening Dagur. Of course, he licked it when he was done, resulting in a grunt from his future self.
"Maybe try not to kick blades in front of them," fD told him, shaking his head.
The boy tried to recover, putting the weapon away. "I've decided," Stoick began, "that I will sign this new agreement if your father does as well."
Dagur stared blankly for a moment. "But, he's not here. Remember?"
The older chief nodded. "I do, but this is portable. You can bring your paper to him and he can sign it."
There was a slight pause before Dagur spoke again. "All right," he said, calmly, though not without some bitterness in his voice.
Not expecting that reply, Stoick's eyes widened slightly and they returned to the Great Hall. The Berkian signed his name and handed it to the other chief.
"I guess that I'm done here," the viking said coldly. He exited the Hall and scowled at his older self. "Worked like a charm, that sanity," he snarked, quietly so that no one else could hear him.
"I told you that it takes time. I don't think that Stoick ever learned to trust me in my future, so you're off to a better start at least with him being willing to agree with your idea." FD smirked, "And as far as the paper goes, forged signature?"
"Naturally."
Just before they reached the ship, a loud explosion sounded from the training arena. Dagur paled.
"Hiccup's in there," he said.
Before he knew it, he was running to the arena as well. The Berserker reached the arena in no time and saw that smoke covered the entire area. He heard the shuffles and roars of several dragons, not just the Zippleback. Dagur went in as the smoke cleared. As it gradually did, he saw a Gronckle, Deadly Nadder, and Monstrous Nightmare. From what the chief could tell, the Hideous Zippleback was out of control. It was randomly expelling gas and creating sparks, often in the direction of the other dragons. After it shot at the Deadly Nadder, the second dragon fired its spines around itself. Instinctively, Dagur tackled Hiccup to the ground, preventing him from getting impaled. The Berserker looked back up and saw that he was not the only one who wanted to keep the Berkian safe. A mere foot away from him was a Night Fury. Dagur jumped to his feet and backed away from the reptile. Hiccup looked at the dragon then the Viking. Suddenly, he grabbed a shield and stood between the two, his shield facing Toothless.
"The dragons are attacking!" Hiccup warned, with a less than stellar acting performance. "Run, Dagur. Save yourself!"
The Berserker raised a brow at the younger boy's antics before recalling that Hiccup was trying to keep a secret. The other Vikings picked up on what Hiccup was doing and commenced running from their dragons. Even though Dagur knew that it was all staged, it was challenging to see the dragons try to attack without doing something. He lost it when the Night Fury prepared to fire a plasma blast. Drawing his own blade, the Berserker chief slid in front of his friend and lunged at the dragon. Toothless maneuvered out of the way and got ready to shoot him. Blue light lit up in the back of his throat as a blast was about to come.
"Stop!" Hiccup told him.
Toothless closed his mouth and tilted his head at Hiccup. Hearing the Berkian, the other dragons stopped as well. The heir could see in his friends' faces that they thought he was crazy for calling off the dragons.
"What's going on?" Dagur asked him, eyes still locked on Toothless.
Hiccup sighed. "Within the last few months, Berk's changed some things." He looked at the others, who were no more certain what to do than he. "We found the source for why the dragons were attacking and stopped it. Now, not only have we made peace with the dragons, but some friendships too."
Toothless went over to him and nuzzled his head against the Berkian's hand. Dagur looked at all the dragons and how they got along with the Vikings. For several seconds, he was silently taking it in.
"And now, you have a Night Fury at your command," he noted, a large smile forming. "This is cool."
The Berkians sighed breaths of relief. Dagur laughed his signature cackle.
"I've got a yak load of questions."
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his older self coming over. "Love the enthusiasm and I'm sure they do too, but there's another place we need to start traveling to." FD glanced at Snotlout and smirked, "We gots to go."
PD let out a low grunt. "Unfortunately, I'll have to ask those later." He paused, hopefully. "When I come back, maybe?"
Hiccup thought about it. "Um, all right."
He received a beaming smile and the Berserker went back to his ship.
"Okay, you're not leading me too far astray. They actually don't mind me coming back! That's never happened before." He grinned as he began sketching. "And that Night Fury's cool. What's its name?"
FD smiled, "His name is Toothless. Weird, huh?"
"Extremely." The younger Viking looked up from his dragon drawing with a question in his eyes. "You said we're going somewhere else and it seemed time sensitive. Where are we going?"
FD turned his eyes to a large chair. "We're going to find Dad."