Night fell over the island of Berk. For the first time in far too long, the Berserker did not dread what it meant. The prison was quiet–not in a mind-numbing way, but it was peaceful. There were no other prisoners who would yell at each turn of the hour or who would call out their cruel remarks and threats. Beyond this, there were no guards or jailers who would enter the cell to inflict torture. For these reasons, anyone could feel at ease. For these reasons, the Berserker did not know why he still felt so anxious.

Dagur had worked with Hiccup on his knife throwing, but it had not lasted long. The day was late and the heir returned home soon. It was fine for a while until the setting sun hit corners of the walls and cast shadows in the shapes of Vikings. They were large and moved closer towards the cell. Dagur looked away from them to keep himself from moving. They were not real and he refused to hide from nonexistent threats. Finally, the sun bid farewell to the Vikings and traded places with the moon. The darkness was nice. Dagur liked that he could not see anything or anyone. With widening eyes, realization dawned on him.

"I can sleep," he thought. He let out a quick laugh. "Might be nice. It's not loud here and no one will interrupt."

It was as if the boy's body immediately knew that sleep was an option because a wave of fatigue washed over him. The redhead was exhausted. He had been for so long by this time. The very idea of sleep seemed like a fantasy, but it was one in which he wanted so badly to partake. Laying down, Dagur got on his side and closed his eyes. It felt amazing to let them rest for the moment. His breaths got deeper as they became more rhythmic. Suddenly, he tensed and grimaced. His neck felt cold–like metal was pressing against his skin. It was that chain again. It began choking him when it tightened like Alvin's grip. Dagur reached up at the chain, trying in vain to loosen the restraint, but more attached themselves. They appeared on his wrists and sank into the floor, pulling him down with them.

Dagur pulled against the force, though they burrowed into him, burning red hot. He grunted as they caused his skin to blister, but his attention was quickly caught by his audience. The prison was no longer empty. Alvin was stalking over to him. He smiled cruelly and Dagur cursed himself for trembling when he saw the others approaching as well. There was nowhere to go. There was no way to fight back.

With a sharp gasp, the boy woke up. Cold beads of sweat clung to his forehead. He still felt shaken and looked around the cell, certain that the Outcasts really were there. Dagur's breathing became fast and uneven. He stood and scowled at the blood he saw soaking through his bandage. Evidently, he had been thrashing around in his sleep. Annoyed, the Berserker decided that he would just begin to train again. It would provide a good distraction. He did not really need sleep anyway. Dagur trained through the night and into the morning. That afternoon on Berserker Island, Oswald was unsure if he had ever truly left. He tried to escape the stress and misery of leading people. He tried hiding and telling no one where he was going. Yet, there he was, standing by a throne with axes and swords fused to its back. The man let out a sigh and put a hand over his eyes.

"How did I get here?" the man wondered. "I should be out in the world, exploring, but I'm stuck here. That boy'll be the death of me. He's not even here right now and is still ruining my day."

"Chief," Vorg called, causing the man to sigh.

"What is it?" Oswald had a bored expression on his face. "Is someone else having an issue with sheep?"

"No, I think they're satisfied with the grass. It's Alvin. He just docked at our harbor and wants to speak with you."

Interested in something for the first time that day, the chief followed him to the docks. Like the captain had said, Alvin was there. He had an angry expression on his face that had not left for his entire voyage.

"What brings you to our island?" Oswald inquired. "The Berserkers have no quarrel with you."

"Your son does."

The Berserker felt anger growing inside of him as he heard what the redhead was called. He tried to not let this show on his face and instead motioned for them to enter a building. Alvin followed the shorter man, glaring at the Berserkers he recalled seeing during the time when they supposedly worked together. Oswald gestured for the Outcast to sit down across from him.

"Dagur's your prisoner, so why does it matter if he hates you?"

"Because he's not my prisoner anymore."

Oswald's eyes widened slightly. "He escaped?"

"With the help of a certain dragon trainer."

The Berserker let out a soft sigh. "Then, retrieve him. You know where he is."

"Stoick's not giving him up. He's worried Hiccup will be upset if he does."

"In that case, I'm at a loss for why you're here. I can't help you."

Alvin sneered at him, then gave a sinister smile. "I might be helping you, Oswald. We could work together on this. Think about it, if Dagur's free, the first thing he'll want is revenge. The second is his position back. He might not have killed you before, but he's killed now. What's stopping him from doing it again?"

Oswald felt a pit form in his stomach. "He wouldn't try to kill me."

"Are you willing to risk your life on that bet?"

A pause followed, amusing Alvin.

"I underestimated him too," the Outcast said. "Frustrating doesn't begin to describe it when that happens. It makes you want to rip his head off his shoulders, but it helps you learn from mistakes. I want to learn from mine, so I'm not waiting for him to go after me. I should have killed him from the beginning."

"Why didn't you?"

"Because he betrayed me," he stated, as though Oswald were a fool for asking. "He needed to suffer. I've broken many Vikings, but he was different. He should've been begging for death a while ago. I can admit when I made a mistake. That first night, I should have gutted him."

Oswald crossed his arms. "I'm not here to help you correct your mistakes. Stoick would not let him live on Berk as a free Viking. He's a prisoner there now. If he escapes–which is doubtful–and kills you, I'll know that it's time to prepare."

Alvin scowled at him. "It'll be too late by then. If you and your Berserkers help me get him now, this can be over. They must hate him. Hiccup's the only Viking I know who doesn't anymore."

Oswald looked down as he pulled out a small blade to sharpen. "I'm not a wager of war. You've confused me for Dagur. Like I said, if he kills you, I'll know that there's a problem."

Angrily, Alvin stood up and drew his sword, pointing it at the chief's throat. Oswald did not even look at him.

"Cut me down," he said, still sharpening the weapon, "and you're dead before you reach the docks. If you want to die without it being caused by Dagur, drown yourself. Don't involve my Berserkers in any more of your schemes."

The Outcast felt rage coursing through him because he knew Oswald was right. Alvin was grossly outnumbered. He would be killed like an animal if he attacked the chief. Turning, he sheathed the weapon again.

"I hope he kills you slowly," Alvin said, a grim tone to his voice.

Saying nothing else, the man stormed down to the ship. He did not know much about the Berserker chief, but he knew that he would be useless. The Outcast took his vessel home as he continued to plan his next move. He would be no sitting dragon, waiting to be executed. Alvin simply had never been that type of Viking. One way or another, he would get that Berserker. He sailed back as Hiccup returned to the Berk prison. The boy and dragon entered the cell, seeing Dagur still fighting against the air.

"Not training to break out, right?" Hiccup asked, half-serious.

"Just training. It's boring when you're gone." Dagur had an unreadable expression on his face. "How is your prison so empty? The one back home always has at least a dozen Vikings."

"Well, I think most people are worried that my dad will just kill them instead of imprisoning them if they do something really messed up."

The redhead let out a laugh. "Good point. It all makes sense now."

Dagur stopped his training to fully pay attention to the visitors. When he did, Hiccup noticed the new blood.

"What happened? No one came in here, did they?"

Shaking his head, the Berserker shrugged. "Started moving around too much or something. I'm fine."

Hiccup frowned. "Well, you won't heal right if you keep opening the wounds. I'll be right back with some more bandages."

The Berkian left and quickly returned with the items, handing them to the prisoner. Dagur thanked him and began redressing the wounds. He had an excited look on his face.

"Ready to throw some more knives?"

Hiccup nodded as he brought out several. "Hopefully, it'll go better than yesterday."

"Couldn't really go worse at least."

"Thanks," the Berkian said sarcastically. "Are we going to use the buckets again?"

Dagur nodded. "Yeah, the blades will go into the wood easily." He pointed at a bucket. "Put it against the wall, so it's further away from you."

Hiccup did as instructed, then lifted a hand.

"Wrong!"

The Berkian sighed. "I didn't even throw it yet."

"You're holding it wrong. Your arm is in the wrong position too. It's like this," Dagur said, demonstrating as though he were holding the weapon. Then, he crossed his arms. "We just went over this yesterday."

"It's not in my muscle memory. You probably wouldn't know how to fly on a dragon after the second time either."

Dagur thought about it for a moment. "Bet I would."

"Well, agree to disagree." Hiccup changed his grip and arm position. Glancing back at the Berserker, he asked, "Better?"

"Much. Now, aim for the center. Straighten out your arm when you throw it. That'll let it be like it's following a line."

Hiccup tossed the blade, hitting close to the middle of the bucket.

"Not half bad. Just need to work on your aim. This isn't too different from crossbows. You were good at that. Just aim like you would with one of those."

The Berkian tried again and smiled at the success.

"Am I a great teacher or what?" Dagur asked proudly. "And I guess you're an okay pupil."

Hiccup chuckled. "I'll take that compliment." He started to consider something. "Is it too soon to ask about the Skrill?"

After a moment, the redhead answered, "No, you're fine. What do you want to know?"

"Do you know how Berserkers were able to keep them calm? Even we couldn't figure out how to do that."

A smile spread across the older boy's face. "Daggers."

"Daggers?"

"Yeah, they'd use them to draw their attention. The metal worked with their lightning, so it could almost put them in a trance."

"I don't get how that calmed them down," Hiccup said, confused.

"It didn't. The Berserkers did."

The Berkian only became more perplexed. Seeing this, Dagur chuckled.

"I'm not the first Berserker to care about a Skrill. Sure, we'd use them to hurt other Vikings, but we didn't hurt them."

Hiccup's eyes widened. "You'd bond with them."

The redhead nodded. "Just wish I knew what the trick was. They didn't have that part written down–just that it happened." He clenched his fists angrily. "They'd go on and on about how great it was to bond with a dragon, but they wouldn't just say how they did it!" Dagur took a deep breath to calm himself down. "So, I read up on Skrills as much as possible and then figured I'd improvise to see what worked best. I didn't want the ropes to hurt him. Just wasn't sure how else I'd get him to help. I certainly wasn't going to fly on his back with all that lightning going everywhere."

"That sort of makes sense then. They really are dangerous dragons." Hiccup saw that Dagur was pointing for him to throw another knife and did as requested. "It's too bad that the Berserkers didn't write that down. It would have helped us afterwards."

"What do you mean?" Dagur asked, tilting his head. Then, he frowned at the bucket. "It's too far to the right. You're twisting your wrist."

Applying the correction, the Berkian returned to the question. "When we got the Skrill, we still didn't know how to keep him from going after everyone."

"He wouldn't have gone after everyone on his own."

"We don't know that. He'd been in ice for Thor knows how long."

Dagur started to frown at him. "We do know that. Skrills aren't mindless brutes. They're smart and show a lot more compassion for their allies than some dragons do. That's part of the reason it was so easy to fight alongside them."

"Well, we didn't know that."

"What did you decide on then?"

Hiccup got ready to throw another knife. "We put him back in the ice."

"You what?!"

The Berkian jolted slightly, making the blade miss and hit a wall instead. Hiccup turned back to the redhead, seeing his horrified face. The expression melted into a sadder one.

"He doesn't deserve that," the Berserker said. "He should be able to fly free like other dragons. It's not right to make him a prisoner."

"It's not really a prison…"

"He's trapped in ice indefinitely. What else is it?"

Hiccup was unable to think of another way to describe what had happened. He frowned as he threw another blade, hitting closer to the bucket's center this time.

"We didn't hurt him," the boy said, not feeling as confident as he sounded.

"So, you get to pick which dragons are too much trouble and which get to live their lives?"

"That's not…you're making it sound worse."

"No, I'm just making you hear how it actually sounds. Clearly, the others didn't tell you." Dagur looked at the cell. "I'm just saying, being a prisoner is being a prisoner no matter the circumstances. There's nothing like being free to go anywhere and live."

Instead of throwing another blade, the Berkian lowered his arm, sighing. "I doubt that I'd be able to do anything about that now. I'd have to talk with my dad and I think I exhausted all the leniency he has to offer for a while."

"Did he decide to freeze him?" There was a pause that Dagur filled with his voice. "Ooh, no answer. That always means nice things."

"You can be really sarcastic, you know."

"I do know that, and right back at you," the Berserker countered. "This wasn't your dad's call, but you're trying to make it that way now. How come?"

"He's the chief," Hiccup said, a little exasperated. "If it'll affect the island, then it's his decision."

"Fair, but you'll be chief one day."

"Don't remind me."

Dagur squinted at him, analyzing the dragon trainer. "Why don't you want to be chief?"

"I never said that."

"Do you?"

The boy paused, looking away.

"Okay, well, now you just answered. So, I can ask my question again."

"It's a lot," Hiccup admitted. "It's a lot and it's restricting. There's so much beyond the Archipelago. If I become chief, I'm…"

"Trapped. Sorta like a certain lightning dragon I know."

Hiccup let out a sigh. "Fine. I admit that it's not a fair fate for him."

Dagur laughed in triumph. "I win!" His laughter stopped as he turned serious. "But Berk needs your head in the game when you become chief. Can't lead your Vikings and daydream about flying through the skies."

"Sure would be nice if I could, though."

"Is that the only reason you don't want the position?"

"It's the main one."

"What's the other one?"

Hiccup stopped, looking at the redhead in curiosity. "I thought I was supposed to ask you questions."

"And you have, but then you made me have some." The Berserker smirked. "Seems like I struck a nerve if you stopped wanting to answer."

"It's not really that. It's just weird to talk about."

The boy looked at Toothless. Sensing his change of emotions, the Night Fury went over to him, letting him pet his head.

"No one thought I'd ever make a good chief before Toothless," Hiccup finally said. "When I'm with him, I'm proving them wrong. When I'm without him, what if they're right?"

"Prove them wrong again," Dagur said, leaning against the back of the cell.

"That's easier said than done."

"Couldn't have been that hard. You did it when it was just you and Toothless. Now, you've got the Greek chorus to back you up. I bet that you'll all be able to come up with solutions to whatever Berky problems you get here."

Hiccup got quiet as he considered this. "That actually doesn't sound awful. My dad never uses the Berk Council unless they agree with him. If my friends were part of that, we could bounce ideas off each other."

Dagur had a proud grin on his face. "One of these days, you'll realize that my ideas are great. Besides, you've already done some leadership stuff with things that don't involve dragons."

"What do you mean?"

The Berserker gestured to the cell. "This. You didn't have to figure out how to keep a Monstrous Nightmare from eating someone, but you still got the job done."

"I guess you're right," Hiccup said, feeling more certain about his abilities. "Maybe things don't just have to be about dragons for me to be successful."

Dagur nodded his head eagerly, then a thoughtful expression crossed his face. "But there's something I don't get," he divulged, looking hesitant. "Why'd you keep coming to the prison?"

The question surprised Hiccup and he did not have an answer immediately.

"I mean," the Berserker continued, "I know that you don't approve of Alvin's…methods, but even before that, you came to the prison even after I threatened you. I didn't expect to see you again after the trial, but you showed up and then kind of kept showing up like a rash on a Viking's–"

"Yeah, I get the picture," the other boy interjected.

"In a good way, though," Dagur clarified.

Hiccup looked at the knife and then the Berserker. "It was because of what happened in the trial–what you said."

"What I said?" the boy asked, shocked.

"Yeah," Hiccup admitted. "When you heard that the sentence was going to be death, I thought that you'd ask for mercy and say that you didn't do anything wrong. If you didn't do that, I expected you to try to kill everyone or yell curses at us, but you didn't. You just asked about your Berserkers. That really took me off guard, but it also gave me some hope. Even though I'd known you to be violent and I always thought you were selfish, if you could still worry about their safety when your own life was about to be taken, maybe there was something I hadn't noticed before. If there was hope for you, leaving you to rot in a cell forever didn't seem right. I kept trying to convince myself to just go along with the others and move on, but it never worked."

Dagur had a surprised expression on his face. "Huh, that's fun that I was the one to convince you."

Hiccup nodded, then had a determined expression appear on his face "That might not be the only thing you've convinced me of."

This caused the redhead to look bewildered. The Berkian looked at Toothless, then him.

"I think that we should find a way to free the Skrill."