When it was morning on Berk, the Dragon Riders went to the prison together. It would be safer if they all were there with their dragons. If anything happened, they would be ready. Dagur eagerly awaited the group. After a little while of talking, Hiccup had left to return home. That let the Berserker come up with ideas for how it would be when he saw his…the Skrill again. Finally, he heard scrapes of claws on the floor and thuds of footsteps. Grinning brightly at the visitors, the boy went over to the cell bars. Dagur moved back when he saw Fishlegs instinctively flinch. Astrid glared at the prisoner and Snotlout seemed unsure what approach he wanted to have.

"Hey," the Berserker greeted awkwardly.

"Hi!" the twins returned happily.

Their friendliness made the redhead feel more confident.

"Ready to befriend the Skrill?" Dagur asked.

"That we are," Hiccup said.

The trainer glanced at his friends, giving them a final chance to change their minds if they wanted. Seeing that they did not object, Hiccup stepped towards the lock. He stopped with his hand about to turn the latch.

"We're going down to the Skrill, then we're returning," Hiccup reminded him.

Dagur nodded. "I know. Tame him and right back."

"And you won't cause any trouble," Astrid stated, telling more than asking him.

"I won't."

The Berserker was quiet as the group looked at each other. Impatience built in him and he tapped his foot.

"Can I get out now then?"

"Yeah," Hiccup said. "Let's do this."

He undid the latch, letting the bars swing open. Dagur stepped out, again seeing Fishlegs move away from him. To his pleasant surprise, the dragons did not snarl or growl. The Ingerman noticed this and his eyes widened. Moving aside slightly, the dragons made room for the prisoner to exit, but they stayed between him and their friends. The crowd drew a bit of attention as they walked through the tribe. Surprised, Gobber approached them, going over to Hiccup.

"What's Dagur doing out of his cell?"

"Hopefully, helping us with the Skrill."

The blond still appeared uncertain. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Not really, but I guess we'll find out in a couple minutes," Hiccup admitted.

The group continued walking until they neared the Academy. Already, they could hear the Skrill's roars. The Riders covered their ears.

"Can you make him stop?" Snotlout asked. "He's been doing that ever since we brought him back."

Dagur's eyes held determination. "Definitely, but I'm going to need a knife."

"Absolutely not," Astrid told him.

"Hiccup already told me you all saw it work."

"Yeah, it worked for a second, then he went crazy and attacked us."

"That might have been my fault," Fishlegs admitted, ashamed.

Astrid shot him a look, then frowned at the Berserker again. She instructed Stormfly to block the twins when they tried to hand Dagur a blade.

"We're not giving you a weapon," the blonde said sternly. "You know Skrills. Hiccup never said anything about you using a blade with it before, so you'll manage without it now."

"Fine," Dagur relented.

It would have felt nice to hold another knife. Being stripped of his, he felt naked, but the risk of him using such a weapon to hurt the Berkians was too great. The boy could understand their hesitation. He started entering the Academy, then stopped as the entryway got blocked behind him.

"What are you doing?" Hiccup asked Astrid.

The warrior's eyes did not move from the redhead. "If he can't do this, the Skrill will just try to escape and kill us. We're safer this way."

Dagur shrugged. "Works for me. You'd probably just get in the way."

Astrid bristled at the Berserker's words, but he did not notice. Instead, he was walking around the Academy, approaching the dragon from the right rather than coming straight at him. He did not want to seem overly confrontational. Finally, Dagur was next to the bars. The Skrill faced him and roared, blowing the Viking's hair. For a moment, the boy blinked at the reptile. Then, he yelled back. This surprised the Skrill who stopped roaring briefly. Curiously, he roared again and like before, was responded to with a yell. The Dragon Riders stood outside of the Academy, watching in confusion.

"What in Thor's name is he doing?" Astrid asked.

Hiccup chuckled. "Finding his own way to train a dragon. I'm not really surprised it's so different from ours."

The twins looked pensive and Tuffnut's eyes brightened.

"We should try that with the next dragon we meet."

"Yeah!" Ruff agreed. "We can yell it into liking us!"

Their friends began to partially regret the decision of including them in this plan, but they found that they were too intrigued by the sight before them to do much besides observe. Dagur had gotten the Skrill to stop roaring. The reptile seemed fascinated by the strange Viking in front of him. He tilted his head as Dagur grinned.

"Wanna come out of there?"

Shocked, the dragon did not nip at his hands while he unlatched the lock. Dagur pushed the bars up and out of the way so that the Skrill could leave the pin. Hesitantly, the reptile stepped out, looking at the Riders. Getting his attention, the Berserker waved a hand.

"Hey, they're not going to bother you," he said, earning a snarl. "I know, I know. Sucks to be locked up. They were just worried you'd attack them. You probably were, weren't you?"

The Skrill let out a low growl. Deciding that was his answer, Dagur laughed.

"Yeah, I know about that too, but if you won't kill or hurt them, I think they'll let you go. Up for being a little nicer?"

This made the dragon bare his teeth. He glared at the Berkians, then the Berserker. He brought his face close to Dagur's, but the boy did not flinch.

"Is that a no?" he asked.

Gusts of wind blew as the Skrill flapped his wings, head pointed upwards. While he did this, Dagur frowned and turned to the other youths.

"Back up," he instructed.

"What's going on?" Hiccup asked.

"He's still got some lightning stored in him from before. He's going to try getting it out, so you're gonna want to not be right there when he does."

Quickly, Hiccup went to the entry to open it again, but Dagur lifted a hand.

"Keep it down. I'm not ready yet."

"But if he starts blasting electricity–"

"And that's open, Berk is going to be a lot more charred than it was earlier this morning," Dagur finished.

Hiccup frowned, knowing he had a point. "Then, I'm staying."

"What?!" Snotlout asked. "We're about to get fried!"

"No, you won't," Dagur assured him, keeping his gaze on the reptile whose neck muscles were beginning to constrict. "There's still something else I can try."

Lightning built up in the Skrill and his wings sparkled with light blue. Just as he opened his mouth, Dagur jumped up and caught the top of his snout. Stunned, the dragon tried to shake him off, but the Berserker did not let go.

"Come on, Skrilly," he encouraged. "What's your plan for afterwards? You char them, then what? If they're dead, no one's feeding you and you're not getting out of here. So, you'd all die. Is revenge really worth it? I mean, I get it. Revenge sounds amazing. It's all you can think about sometimes. Just the idea alone can make you drool, but it doesn't change anything that's happened."

The dragon began to stop shaking his head, listening to the Viking's words. Dagur saw the familiar look of uncertainty and anger in his eyes. He let go of the horn on his nose and landed back on the ground.

"It's not so bad to forgive them," he told him. "Honestly. You might even like them a bit if you gave them a chance."

Still unsure, the Skrill looked between him and the Berkians. Dagur crossed his arms and sighed.

"If you're going to hold grudges, then that means there's one against me too."

"Why are you telling him that?" Fishlegs asked, horrified. "He actually didn't want to kill you."

"Because it's sort of my fault too," Dagur admitted, frowning. "You might not recognize me, Skrilly, but I'm the one who put you in that net and tied ropes to you. I'm sorry. I wasn't planning on hurting you, but I shouldn't have treated you like something I owned instead of someone with thoughts and plans for the future." He stopped, looking hopeful. "Of course, I'm also the one who didn't let some smelly, old guy hit you with his walking stick. So, if that can help sway your mind, I'd be pretty happy about it. But if it can't," he said, sitting down suddenly, "then I guess your revenge should start with me. I'm already here. Not like I can escape before you can attack. Your call, Skrilly. I'm not going to try to make you do something you don't want to do anymore."

Laying down, the Berserker got on his back. He had seen animals do that with one another to demonstrate that they were not trying to fight. With the underbelly exposed, the other animal was at an advantage and had control over what happened next. Sometimes, Dagur had seen it lead to the two ending their quarrel. Other times, he had seen it end with entrails being ripped out and pouring onto the grass. He wondered which might happen this time.

Hiccup watched tensely, wanting to open the entry and break up the scene. He did not realize how angry the Skrill had been with them. If Dagur got killed because he asked him to calm down the dragon, he would live with the guilt for the rest of his life. His heart felt like it stopped when he saw the Skrill bring its snout to the Berserker's stomach. Feeling similarly horrified, Fishlegs fainted. The others remained conscious, but they became tense and Snotlout turned his head. To their surprise, they heard no sounds of pained yelling or torn flesh. To the contrary, they heard laughter.

"St-stop it!" Dagur insisted in between laughs.

The Skrill's snout was tickling the Berserker as he sniffed him. Amused by the boy's sounds, he continued for a little longer. Dagur rolled out from beneath the dragon, catching his breath.

"Are we good then?" he asked. "Everything all copacetic?"

To answer, the reptile let out another roar, but it did not sound angry. Smiling, Dagur yelled back and laughed again when the Skrill nudged him with his head. He pet the dragon, beaming at the Berkians.

"All set to open it up," he told them.

Hiccup did as he requested and carefully entered the Academy. The Skrill watched the group, but he seemed less upset even if there was a slight look of irritation on his face. He breathed out through his nostrils loudly towards Toothless.

"Play nice, Skrilly," Dagur chided. "T's a friend."

The lightning dragon stopped, instead letting the Night Fury come up to his side. Barf and Belch followed, heads low to offer their apologies. The Skrill accepted this and looked back at Dagur.

"You're free," he said, gesturing towards the opening. "No reason to stay now unless you just want to."

Getting in one more pet, Dagur watched the reptile fly off into the sky. His lightning filled the air, making bright blasts of blue spread out through the clouds.

"Love that dragon," the boy said in awe.

Hiccup approached the Berserker with an impressed smile on his face. "That was pretty amazing."

"Was kind of winging it, so I'm glad it worked."

Astrid crossed her arms. "That wasn't bad," she conceded.

Tuffnut's jaw dropped open. "Woah, Astrid just gave you a compliment. You must've really wowed her."

The blonde rolled her eyes. "Hey, he made it so we didn't have to worry about a dragon killing us. I'm not going to be mad at that."

"So, do you believe that I'm trying to be different?" Dagur asked hopefully.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," she said. When she saw his sad expression, she sighed. "The Skrill probably wouldn't have spared you if you seemed really evil, so maybe there's hope."

This put a smile on the boy's face. "Always heard animals and babies were great judges of character. Don't have any babies around here, do you?"

"Gustav's got a little brother," Snotlout volunteered.

"We're not doing that," Astrid said, shaking her head.

"Yeah, because then, we'd have to be around Gustav and nobody wants that," Ruff added.

Taking the win where she could get it, Astrid dropped the subject. Hiccup just smiled at his friends and turned to Fishlegs. The boy was beginning to regain consciousness. When he saw that the Berserker was still alive, he looked at the Academy.

"What did I miss?"

"A lot," Hiccup told him. "I'll fill you in afterwards."

Afterwards. That word stuck out to Dagur, but he knew it was coming. After he was back in the cell. The Berkians noticed his change of demeanor, but as promised, he caused no scene during the entire way back. They locked the cell again and he did nothing more than tell them goodbye. Hiccup stayed the longest.

"This went a lot better than I expected," he divulged.

"What can I say? I'm full of surprises," Dagur said proudly.

"Seems that way." Hiccup paused for a moment. "Now that we have a lot more traders than just Johann, we have some different books. Do you think you'd want to read any of them?"

"You'd get them for me?"

"I don't see why not. I started doing some more reading after you suggested it and found a lot of interesting things. Since you said it gets so boring here, that might help."

"Sure! I'd welcome the entertainment."

"Most of them are gone now, so I'll go in the morning before coming by," the boy promised. "See you then."

"See ya."

Hiccup left the prison to return to his friends. With the Dragon Training Academy available, they returned to their practices. When they were done, Hiccup noticed Stoick heading over with a curious expression on his face.

"Hey, I'm guessing you found out what we did today?"

The chief nodded. "The lack of incessant roaring was a pretty big indication, but Gobber also told me. Seems like it went well. What made you decide to do that?"

"It wasn't just me actually. The others and I were trying to find ways to calm down the Skrill." Hiccup paused, a thoughtful look appearing. "I mentioned the idea of the six of us leading together."

Stoick lifted an eyebrow at him. "The six of you? The title of chief has never been shared before."

"I know, but maybe we could find some other title that we could all have. We don't have to get rid of the idea of having a chief. Future generations could still do that if they wanted, but they'd also have the choice of leading as a group."

Stoick's expression was inquisitive. "How did you come up with this?"

"Dagur and I were talking." Hiccup saw that his father was starting to look disapproving and quickly added, "He just said it since I told him that I was worried about leading."

"You're only worried because you're young. With more experience, you'll be ready."

"Maybe, but I also think it would help if I did it with the others. I work better with them than alone, Dad. I know chiefs have normally led alone besides having their chieftesses, but that wouldn't be me leading at my best."

Stoick quietly considered this. "But you really want to give the twins that type of power in the tribe?"

Hiccup chuckled. "It was actually Ruff's idea to get Dagur to fix the Skrill problem. They're both really creative. All my friends have skills that could help Berk in different ways. I know that they still could if they were soldiers, but the ideas we come up with together are better than what I could do by myself."

The chief stroked his beard, then nodded his head. "You've been changing Berk for the better. I suppose there's no reason to think you wouldn't continue to do that. If they're going to work with you, just make sure that none of you forget your responsibilities to the tribe. You might be friends, but our people come first. Power can change some Vikings. If that happens, you'll have to be willing to remove them from their positions to keep them from hurting Berk."

"I can do that," Hiccup agreed.

Stoick smiled and patted his shoulder. "Then, I'm behind you in this new plan of yours. It'll be interesting to see." Suddenly, he put a hand over his face. "The only issue is that Spitelout will never stop bragging, but it's not fair to punish Snotlout for that."

Hiccup laughed. "Yeah, he's definitely an unfortunate side effect, but I think we'll manage. Who knows? Maybe we'll even think up some new rule that'll get him to calm down."

"If you do, that'll automatically make you six of the best leaders in all of Berk's history."

Continuing to talk, the father and son returned home. The night came quickly and led to the Berkians entering the realm of dreams. This concerned the Berserker, but he did not want to fear the night.

"Try out what Hiccup suggested," he thought. "If I can change the dream, it won't be so bad and I'll actually be able to sleep."

Hesitantly, Dagur looked at the corner of the cell. He scowled at it, then closed his eyes.

"You're not winning this time."

Leaning against the back wall of the cell, Dagur tried to relax. It was difficult, but he managed to succeed. After an hour of restlessness, the boy fell asleep and right into the same type of nightmare he had grown accustomed to since leaving Outcast Island. He was in the cell again, chained and being attacked from all sides. There was nowhere to move or dodge. It hardly even seemed like Vikings were attached to the fists and feet. Some mythical being must have been the culprit, able to hit him without ever tiring. Instead of becoming fatigued, this beast became bored. The fists relaxed, grabbing the Berserker and pushing him into the ground. Dagur felt himself panicking.

"Change the dream," his dream self said. "Change it. The chains are gone. I-I'm not restrained. I can win."

The tightness on the redhead's wrists lessened. Brightening, he saw that the shackles were gone. He quickly got to his feet and into a fighting stance. When a fist came his way, Dagur ducked. The hands transformed into familiar Outcasts. Some were the guards and some were the inmates. Dagur started to laugh when he was able to maneuver around their attacks. The Vikings backed away from him with fear in their eyes.

"Ooh, don't like attacking when I can hit back, huh?" he taunted. "Funny because you all enjoyed it a lot before then."

The Outcasts kept moving further from the boy. He smirked and lunged at them, making them jump.

"As great as this is, I think it's time you all left. I'm long overdue for some good shut eye."

One by one, the people vanished in a puff of smoke. It excited Dagur more and more each time. He stretched out and sat back down.

"Good riddance."

The redhead closed his eyes, but he frowned soon afterwards. All of the Vikings had not vanished. One was choking him.

"I'm not letting you stick around," he told the Outcast, struggling to breathe.

Focusing, the boy imagined his attacker disappearing, but he did not.

"Why isn't this working?"

The grip on his throat just got tighter. He no longer felt the floor as the hand lifted him.

"Miss me?" a voice asked.

Blood drained from Dagur's face. This was not a dream, but it was a nightmare. He opened his eyes to see Alvin glaring at him. The Berserker wanted to claw at the hand, but his arms were stuck together with restraints. His heartbeat began racing and his eyes widened. Alvin saw the fear and smiled.

"Don't look so surprised. You didn't think I'd give up that easily, did you? We still have unfinished business, Dagur. Nothing changes that."