PD crossed his arms and leaned against the wall.
"Okay," he began, "Why did you come here?"
FD sighed miserably beginning his story. "In my timeline, Mala and I got married and started going back and forth between Berserker Island and Defenders of the Wing Island. After Toothless leaves for a new home and brings all of the dragons with him, we had to evacuate everyone to all live here and avoid the lava. The problem was that we were all concentrated in one area." He stopped for a moment and his eyes went to the floor. "There was an attack...a massacre. Dragon Hunters, Outcasts, everyone we've ever gone against–apart from the Berkians–came."
Dagur balled his hands into fists. He could almost see it all happening again.
"They attacked in the middle of the night like cowards and took out our people before we even knew they were there." The Berserker's anger turned back into sadness. "They killed everyone. I-I wasn't able to protect Heather or Mala or Throk. The entire island was slaughtered. The only reason I wasn't was because they said this was payback for what I'd done." Dagur held his head in his hand. "I knew that I'd done terrible things, so the options of what they meant were almost limitless. It could have been because of my attack on the island that had Heather's adoptive parents, when I tried to kill Alvin, some Vikings I'd stolen from, or even when I turned on the Hunters. The only thing I knew for certain was that it was what I deserved for every bit of harm I'd caused. No one else deserved to die for it. I decided if I could find a way to go back and fix my mistakes, maybe this wouldn't happen."
PD silently took in the information before speaking. "And I'm guessing I can't tell anyone else why we'd be training all day?" he asked.
FD shook his head. "It could cause more issues if you do. They might try to go out and stop it, then get caught or killed by someone. Oddly enough, the safest thing might be to just let the enemies come to us. We can always be ready. I won't leave until the improved memories come in, so we'll train everyone together," he promised.
The younger Berserker sighed. "Well, I guess it's a great thing that I'm chief again. We'll start prepping tomorrow."
FD nodded and pD attempted to get some rest, but he could not. The night was a sleepless one. When Dagur awoke, the only thing on his mind was ensuring that neither any of his Berserkers nor the Defenders got killed. Along with that thought was the knowledge that he and Mala would get married. An automatic smile formed on his face as he imagined the ceremony and an even larger grin came when he saw the princess. Mala chuckled at his excited grin.
"Good morning. Being chief agrees with you," she complimented.
"Just excited about some aspects of the future," Dagur beamed, though the joy vanished from his visage once he thought of what else the future would bring. "My first act as reinstated chief will be to fortify the island. We need to make sure no unwanted Vikings can come in or get out without being noticed and eliminated."
The chief's hand went to his weapon, envisioning how he would kill anyone who dared to even consider harming any of his people. Mala picked up on the change and went near him.
"I know that today is a bittersweet one for you, but I wanted you to be aware of how you have support from my Defenders and myself."
"I know. That means a lot," he said sincerely. The Berserker looked at the village again. "I want to make sure the island's safe. Anybody could attack at any time right now. We're totally unguarded."
Dagur started going to the outskirts of the island and looking around. FD pointed to their left.
"There's a blind spot right here that I didn't notice before the attack. We need another watchtower that can cover this side of the island. If we do, there shouldn't be any places left that can't be seen by us."
PD nodded and went to go find some Vikings. Captain Vorg and a few others started the construction of the watchtower while Dagur continued spotting new places to fix. Within the next month, there were several watchtowers added to the island and more advanced training for the Berserkers had begun. Having been made aware of their resident king of dragons in the center of their maze of caves, Dagur arranged for the Berserkers to be prepared for Hunters and Flyers to come. One night, the Bewilderbeast was heavily on Dagur's mind.
"I know you said the dragons will end up leaving eventually, but if we get more riders on Berserker Island, it'll be easier to defeat the Hunters and Flyers when they come," he stated, glancing at his older self.
"That makes sense to me. Having more trained soldiers never hurts in battle."
Dagur kept true to his plan and the next day, small groups were sent out to find new dragons. The chief accompanied them and they returned with Deadly Nadders and Monstrous Nightmares in tow. As the years progressed, Dagur observed as his island and Vikings grew stronger, himself included. PD smirked playfully as he went by fD, who had officially outgrown.
Along with the work on Berserker Island, Dagur would often visit Defenders of the Wing Island to see Mala. He could never shake the looming feeling of dread, but at the same time, the chief wanted to enjoy the present. After another of their wonderful days together, Dagur and Mala were flying through the air.
"Where are we going?" she asked.
"It's a surprise." He paused, giving her a nervous smile. "I hope you like it."
They landed and the Berserker pointed to some dragons, causing a bright smile to appear on Mala's face.
"I have not seen these before," she admitted.
"I know," the redhead said, laughing. "It takes a lot of searching to actually get a dragon you're unfamiliar with."
Mala gave him a kiss on the cheek. "This was very thoughtful of you."
Dagur grinned and the pair spent the day with the reptiles, studying and bonding with them. When the sun began to set, it made the dragons' scales shimmer like gems. Mala's eyes twinkled just as much as she took in the new sight. Once the sun was gone and the shimmering stopped, pD glanced at his older self, feeling nervous.
"You got this," fD told him, giving him an encouraging smile.
The chief took a breath and held Mala's hand. She looked at him, becoming a little surprised by his serious expression.
"You're amazing," he stated. "You're so kind, courageous, intelligent…and patient thankfully when stuff seems weird to me," he added, chuckling.
The Defender chuckled with him, but her eyes widened as the Berserker got down on one knee. Mala brought another hand to her mouth.
"I love you so much, Mala," Dagur said. "I love every moment we spend together, whether we're out fighting Dragon Hunters or sharing ideas for leading our Vikings. I…I can't promise that I'll always be level-headed or traditionally sane. I can promise that I'll always be faithful to you and do everything in my ability to make the rest of your life the happiest it can be. I don't know what the future will be like, but I want us to be together in it. Would you do me the honor of marrying me?"
Mala wrapped her arms around the Viking, kissing him. "I would consider it my highest honor to be your wife."
Dagur laughed in excitement and picked the queen up, carrying her like the bride she would be soon. The next day was spent taking the Defenders of the Wing king trials. Mala smiled ear-to-ear when Dagur successfully finished the tests. The day before the royals were married, the Hunters attacked Berserker Island as fD had warned. Berserker Island was impenetrable and in a short amount of time, the attackers had been stopped. Nothing would stop the wedding. It was a beautiful ceremony that ended with a dance of blades performed by the newly married couple. The subsequent evening, they started work on combining the islands.
"Maybe we should move more people here, just in case the Great Protector ever has to leave?" Dagur suggested.
Mala tapped her chin. "I doubt that our Great Protector would ever willingly abdicate his responsibilities to leave us." Upon looking at her new husband's distressed expression, Mala continued, "Though anything is possible. Perhaps, we can gradually move some of the Defenders, so as to prevent anyone from being left behind if there needs to be an evacuation and our numbers are too large."
Dagur smiled. "Great! We can get to work on that tomorrow."
Slowly, but surely, the Defenders were moved onto Berserker Island. Not one person even questioned the reason their king kept adding new huts to the land prior to getting newly confirmed residents. Fortunately, the island was of a size that accommodated everyone. This plan proved useful when Toothless called all of the dragons to leave for their hidden world. With everyone on Berserker Island, Dagur knew it was only a matter of time before the attack came. He did not know how everything would transpire, but he knew that the only massacre this time would be of their opponents. FD informed pD that the day was getting closer. Each night became harder to make a restful one. Mala caught Dagur as he went to pace around the island one evening.
"Where are you going?" she asked tiredly.
The chief cursed under his breath for waking her. "I'm just going to do a bit of surveillance around the island."
Mala shook her head. "Something is wrong. What's going on, Dagur?"
He looked at her and held her hand. "It's too odd to explain how I know, but I know something's on its way here and I have to make sure we're going to be okay."
Mala started to get up. "Then I shall come with you."
The Berserker knew better than to attempt dissuading her and the pair walked around the island.
"This knowledge is why you have seemed so depressed lately," Mala commented.
Dagur nodded. "What if after all we've done, it's not enough? What if the island gets destroyed, if everyone gets killed? You, Heather, Throk–everyone could lose their lives if we don't handle things correctly."
The chieftess put her hand to Dagur's face, calming him. "We will not lose," she declared. "Our island is strong and our people are stronger. Whoever has the audacity to come here for a fight will have far more than they bargained for."
They stayed outside, looking at the ocean for half an hour, then returned to their hut. Later that day, an alarm was heard. Dagur grimaced and looked at fD.
"They're here."