Out on the dark, murky ocean a boat bobbed along. Objects breaking and screams were heard from the captains room. The crew on board went about their business, cowering at every noise, every curse and every crash coming from that room. No one dared to go in or even go near the door for fear of their abhorrent leader.
Inside a chair was smashed against the wall.
"DAMN THOSE HOOLIGANS!" A stack of books were thrown next. "DAMN THAT STOIC! RUNNING AWAY FROM A FIGHT!"
The giant, dark man pounded his fist on the already broken desk, splintering the wood even more. His anger, thought still burning, lessened from all the destruction he cause.
"Just one fight." He mumbled. "One more fight and I'll finish him. He can't avoid me forever. I'll tear down everything he holds dear, I'll kill all of Berk right in front of him before taking his life."
A hesitant knock came from the door. The man rose to his full, towering height and shouted out a warning.
"This better be something good, disturbing me like this." He stomped towards the door and threw it open, making several people on the other side jump back in fear.
"Alvin, sir." One of the crew stuttered out. "There is someone to see you."
The crewman motioned towards a skinny man in strange cloth clothing. For the strangers part, they seemed calm under Alvin's menacing stare. They sauntered forward, nodding their head in greeting.
"Hello Alvin the Treacherous." He said, sounding like one of those weak English fellow's. "I've been trying to reach you for a very long time. You see, my employer believes you two have similar interests."
Ahh. Alvin thought. He someone's errand boy.
"And what interests may those be?" Alvin growled out.
"A certain dragon rider that has been causing problems, both for you and us."
Alvin thought for a moment. "Is that all? There are plenty others who hate him that I could team up with. You're gonna need more than that."
"You two also have an interest in controlling dragons. But, unlike you, my employer already knows how too." The man looked up at Alvin, a smirk hiding in his eyes. "And he'd be more than willing to share, not only his knowledge, but his army of dragons too."
"Who might you and this employer of yours be?" Alvin asked, his interest piqued.
"I am Johann. A simple trader who has traveled many places. Including to the Wilderwest where I meet the man who I believe will rule the world." He paused for dramatic effect. "Drago Bludvist."
The name sounded familiar, but Alvin couldn't place it. Johann continued.
"Drago would like to meet with you. Perhaps you two could help each other with your goals. Mainly to get ride of that Dragon loving freak and take over the Archipelago."
Alvin looked around the ship. It was already filled with his strongest warriors who were ready for a fight in case this was a trap.
"Where will we be meeting this Drago Bludvist?"
"Not them. Just you." Alvin snarled at Johann, who had the decency to back up. "I'm gonna have to sneak you out of the Archipelago. Otherwise those Dragon rides would try and stop us. They've been getting in the way of this meeting for a year. This has to be inconspicuous."
Alvin stepped forward, pushing Johann back even more. "You expect me to get on your tiny boat and let you take me to some unknown place to meet some unknown man I have never heard of!?"
"Then you can pick the spot!" Johann quickly offered. "You can pick a spot outside of the Archipelago and Drago will meet you there. And, you can bring two of your men."
Alvin sized the man up. He could easily take Johann hostage as leverage. He looked towards his men. Two of his best had already stepped forward, offering themselves as his companions. He calculated his odds and figured there would be no harm in meeting this Drago.
"The edge of Tomorrow." Alvin finally replied. "Well meet there in a week."
"Or, we could meet in two days." Johann offered. At that moment two Scauldron's poked their head out of the water, but didn't attack. As Alvin looked them over he saw harnesses on them. It looked like they were hooked up to the boat.
"I can send a message with a Terrible Terror and Drago will meet us there. What do you say?" Johann held his arm out. It was quickly crushed by Alvin's own arm.
"Sounds like a plan." Alvin's face turned into a menacing grin.
"Wohoo! Boys day!" Tuffnut shouted as cloaks and hoods were dumped onto the floor.
It was Fishlegs and Snotlout's turn to watch Hiccup today. He had hoped Snotlout would back out, but no, Hiccup should have known better. Instead, Fishlegs, Snotlout, and Tuffnut would be with Hiccup today. And to make matters worse Cami was going to spend the day with Ruffnut and Astrid had plans.
"Aw yeah! The gangs all here. Back again. Reunited and it feels so good!" Tuffnut couldn't read the room he was dancing around. Snotlout look annoyed to be stuck here, Fishlegs was nervously eyeing everyone, and Hiccup was already done with today.
What a fun day this will be. Hiccup thought sarcastically while turning his attention back to his sketch book. And yesterday had been such a good day too.
Astrid had spent the rest of the day with him, drawing, picking out designs, and just talking. Then Gobber stayed to guard the 'stranger' over night, like he did the night before, and he was able to tell them half truths. Both seemed to accept his stories with little to no judgement. Maybe Berk wouldn't be as challenging as he thought it would be?
"So what exactly are we going to do for boys day?" Snotlout asked in a snarky tone.
"Well, now that the girls are gone we're going to show dear Hiccy here around Berk!" He gestured to Hiccup, who looked up in confusion.
"Uh, no one's suppose to know Hiccup's alive, let alone on Berk." Fishlegs argued.
"Thats why I brought disguises!" Tuffnut dug into the pile of clothes on the floor, pulling out a bandanna and wrapping it around Hiccup's face then draped him in an oversized cloak.
"This isn't gonna work." Hiccup's muffled voice barley made its way to the others.
"Hiccup's right. This is too dangerous." Fishlegs agreed, even as he was putting on his own disguise.
"We can't stay inside all day, I'll go crazy. I don't know how I managed yesterday." Came Tuffnut's muffled reply through the mountain of cloth he had over himself.
"You didn't. You and Cami left around lunch." Hiccup said as he pulled the bandanna down.
Tuffnut snickered to himself. "Oh yeah."
"Well, it's boring here and I don't wanna stay inside all day." Snotlout said as he checked himself over. "We sneak into the village disguised, walk around for a bit, then come back. No one will know!"
"We did make some changes around Berk I think you'd be interested in." Fishlegs smiled at Hiccup while handing him a fake mustache.
Sighing in defeat Hiccup took the mustache. "Okay. If were gonna do this then you two need to take off the disguises." He pointed to Snotlout and Tuffnut.
"What? We need to wear disguises or people will know it's us!" Tuffnut cried out.
"Four people running around Berk in cloaks? By ourselves? We'd stick out like a dragon in a sheep pen." Hiccup replied. "You two can be seen around Berk and it wouldn't be a big deal."
"Yeah, but were suppose to be watching you today, if we go into to town with one guy in a cloaked and all three of us around then they'll know you're the new guy." Snotlout pointed out.
"Tuffnut's turn was yesterday, so it doesn't matter. And you can just say you got bored and left guard duty to Fishlegs."
"Aww. That's no fun!" Tuffnut flopped into the pile of clothes with a whine.
"You wanna go out?" Hiccup snarked as he had Fishlegs take off his disguise.
"Yes." Both Tuff and snot moaned as they threw their cloaks off.
"I can be in a cloak and Fishlegs just needs to look like a random viking." Hiccup handed some new clothes to Fishlegs, along with a fake beard. "The point is to not stand out. If we were all to burry ourselves in cloaks and hoods it would draw people's attention and they would know something was up. This way me and Fishlegs can either hang back or hide behind you guys. You two will basically be our cover."
Hiccup finished helping Fishlegs and stepped back to see all three of them staring at him.
"What?"
"Damn you're good at this!" Tuffnut said in awe.
Hiccup pulled the hood over his head, uncomfortable with all eyes on him. "I've been doing this for years, so…"
"Yeah, we can tell." Fishlegs replied while sticking the dark beard on his face.
"Why does a dragon trapper need to know how to disguise himself?" Snotlout asked as they made their way out the back door.
Hiccup shrugged. "Alvin's not the only enemy I've made in the past five years. Slave traders, other trappers, and the occasional nut case. You gotta be prepared for anything."
The boys made their way along the edge of the village, keeping closer to the forest to stay out of sight. They made their way to the Great Hall, where they were able sneak into the village crowd unnoticed. As Hiccup instructed, they kept to the edge of the crowd with Tuff and Snot blocking the other two from view. They showed Hiccup all the new updates they made to the village. All the new designs and colors they were able to use now that their homes weren't being burned down every other night. Hiccup was pleasantly surprised to see his bolo launcher invention everywhere.
"Astrid found your blue prints for them and we tried them out. We were able to get most of the kinks out of them and they work really well!" Fishlegs explained.
"I'm glad they were put to good use. How did you stop the internal gears from slipping?"
Hiccup and Fishlegs talked about the updates and what else could be done or what could be changed. They easily switch between talking about weapon design to architecture to map making. Snotlout and Tuffnut, however, got bored and wander off to destroy something before Hiccup managed to wrangle them back.
"You two are suppose to be our cover!" Hiccup whisper-shouted.
"Well, you two keep talking about weak points and structures and layouts and it's boring!" Tuffnut moaned.
"Well then what do you two want to do?" Hiccup immediately regretted asking. Tuffnut showed them all the places he had destroyed around the island, ending with the site of the Pyre that was still covered in ash from a few days ago. Hiccup was touched to see that the others made a new celebration just to honor his 'death'.
"Of course Hiccy, you're our friend!" The smile slipped off of Tuff's face. "Did you really not know that?"
"Uh, well, it was kind of hard to tell with all the teasing and the punching…"
"Yeah, so? You did plenty of damage to us too you know." Tuffnut started laughing and, once again, slung his arm around Hiccup's neck forcing him to awkwardly bend towards Tuffnut. "Remember when you set Ruffnut's hair on fire?"
"That was an accident!"
"Still funny!" Tuffnut patted Hiccup's head. "We always respected your destructive nature. If anything we were mad you never gave us any of those sweet, deranged inventions."
"You weren't getting them then and you're not getting them now." Hiccup managed to free himself from Tuffnut's grasp. "And they're not deranged! They just… don't always work how I want them to."
"Ugh! Enough with all the mushy talk!" Snotlout interrupted. "It's my turn to decided where we're going!"
"Okay. Where do you wanna go?"
Snotlout took them all back to the Great hall for some food.
"What?! Lunch is just about over and I'm hungry!"
Snot and Tuff went in to get food while Hiccup and Fishlegs waited out of sight behind the building. They tried to continue their conversation from earlier, but Hiccup could tell Fishlegs had something else on his mind.
"Why are you being so nice to us?" Fishlegs finally asked.
"What do you mean?"
"We all treated you terribly. You were picked on, called names-"
"According to Tuffnut that IS friendship!" Hiccup joked.
"We're part of the reason you ran away. Shouldn't you hate us?"
Hiccup sighed, taking a moment to think. "I don't think I ever hated any of you."
Fishlegs turned to him in surprise. "I ditched you to be with the cool kids! I never help you when they picked on you! You should hate me! I hate me!"
"Whoa, whoa! Calm down Fishlegs!" Hiccup patted the Fishlegs arm. "I mean I get it. You got a chance to be safe from their torment and ditching me made you less of a target. We were just kids trying to fit in and you were able to, I can't fault you for that."
"I should have stuck with you." Fishlegs said sadly.
"You childhood would have been a lot rougher if you did."
"Yeah, but at least I would've actually had a friend instead of awkwardly hanging around the others." Fishlegs sighed. "You were the only one I could actually talk to."
Hiccup took a moment before responding.
"I think the reason I'm not angry at any of you is because, I actual love how my life turned out. Sure, I have some regrets but I'm happy now. I wouldn't change a thing about my life. Even the parts that were sad and lonely." Hiccup shrugged the hood off for a second. "I don't blame you for anything. I figure it's all in the past, we can move on and grow from our mistakes."
Hiccup held out his arm as a sign of friendship. Which promptly sent Fishlegs to tears. The bigger boy hugged Hiccup and apologized for the past. Hiccup rolled his eyes but comforted Fishlegs none the less. He was once again reminded they thought he was dead. While Hiccup always knew he could go back to Berk, Berk thought they had lost him for good. Fishlegs, and the others, spent years thinking of how they treated him, their regrets, and things they thought they would never get to say to him. Not that Hiccup had ever thought any of them would care this much.
Fishlegs quickly pulled away as they heard Snotlout and Tuffnut coming towards them. Hiccup didn't know how Fishlegs managed to wipe away any sign of tears, leaving Tuff and Snot clueless to the emotional talk they just had. The two had already eaten half their food by the time they got to Hiccup and Fishlegs, handing over separate plates. As they ate Tuffnut filled them in on what had happened to Snotlout in the Great hall. Apparently, one of the tavern girls that Snotlout had been flirting with caught him flirting with a new hire. Words were yelled, hair pulled, and Snotlout got slapped by both the girls.
"Yeah, yeah. I don't know why they always fight. There's enough Snot-man to go around." He flexed his muscles.
"I thought you were in love with Astrid? Did you finally give up on her?" Hiccup asked as he eat his food.
Tuffnut replied for Snotlout. "Nah. Snot-man here thinks he can make Astrid jealous by getting with other ladies."
"And I'm not in love with Astrid. She's the best girl on Berk and I'm the best guy, obviously we belong together. Besides, it would be a disservice to the other ladies of Berk if they didn't get the chance to be in my presence."
"Whatever you say, Snot-man." Hiccup deadpanned.
"Speaking of, we should go check on Astrid." Snotlout tossed his empty plate to the side. "I'm sure she'll need my help with her little plans."
The other three rolled their eyes at Snotlout. Hiccup then berated him and made him go pick up the plate he threw away.
They made their way through the crowd, Tuffnut and Fishlegs filled him on the goings on of the people; these ones got married, these two have three kids, those two are in a feud and no one knows why. All in all it felt good to be back in his home village, walking among everyone else.
They eventually made it to the arena where they had to stay out of sight, not wanting Astrid to know they broke her rules. The others showed Hiccup the construction for the addition Astrid was building. It was only the second day of construction so there wasn't much to see. The foundation was just being set so it was hard to tell what was going on. Even from their spots by the trees they could hear Astrid calling out orders.
It didn't take long to find the blonde women calling out the instructions. Astrid was in complete control. Watching the workers, making sure everything went exactly as planned, encouraging the everyone to do their best. She really was the best for this role.
Maybe I could just leave and she can be chief of Berk. Hiccup thought to himself. He still wasn't sure what he would do after all of this was over and they knew who he really was.
If they accepted dragons should I stay and live on Berk? Or should I go back to the sanctuary? What about mom?
Hiccup was so deep in thought he didn't notice Snotlout was about to make his way over to Astrid. Or notice Tuffnut and Fishlegs try and hold him back. It wasn't till Astrid, and a few others, turned to look towards them that Hiccup realized the other three were making so much noise.
"Shut it!" Hiccup whisper-yelled. The other three froze and turned to look where he was looking. They all paled in fear seeing Astrid looking right at them. Fist balled at her sides, anger burning in her eyes. She slowly stalked towards them.
"Run." Tuffnut whispered, and they all took off.
They didn't stop till they reached the center of the village, which was luckily empty. Each one bent over, trying to catch their breath, while also keeping an eye out for an angry Astrid.
"What is wrong with you three?" Hiccup reprimanded. "Were you trying to get caught?"
"No!"
"It was Snotlout's fault!"
"I think I pulled something."
They were just getting their breath back when Hiccup and Tuffnut were tackled to the ground. Snotlout tried to get away, but someone grabbed him by his shirt and dragged him backwards.
"Wha' on Midgard are ya all doin' out here?" Gobber exclaimed as he dragged Snotlout into his blacksmith shop.
Hiccup turned over to see Cami standing over him, a displeased look on her face.
"Astrid told us you all had escaped." Still, she helped Hiccup up and pushed him towards the shop.
Despite all the changes that have been made to Berk, the workshop was still the same. Everything seemed to be in the exact place it was when he left, even if that wasn't where it was suppose to be. Hiccup couldn't help but smile at his second home. He had spent as many nights here as he did in his room.
"Come on you yak brains! Lets move!" Ruffnut called out, kicking Tuffnut into the shop while pulling Fishlegs in behind her.
"Now who's brigh' idea was this?" Gobber asked, eyeing each and everyone of them.
Silently they all pointed to Tuffnut, who was avoiding eye contact and whistling. Ruffnut gave her brother a punch in the gut and he went down with a cry of pain. Gobber came by and gave them each a smack on the head and, after a small lecture, were told they would stay in the workshop till dinner then they would sneak Hiccup back up to his house.
Hiccup made his way to the back of the shop where his desk was, grabbing a small piece of leather and some tools along the way. He sat down at his desk and took off his prosthetic, deciding this was the best time to clean and adjust it. It took a second for him to realize it had gone quiet. Hiccup looked up to see the others staring at him.
"What? Did you just now notice I have a prosthetic leg?" He asked.
"Don' mind 'em." Gober hobbled towards him. "We're not used ta ya taking ya leg off."
Gobber motioned to give him a look and Hiccup handed his prosthetic over to his mentor.
"I'm assuming ya made this ya self?"
"Yep. That's my third design, I believe."
"Now wha's this do?" Gobber began to toy with the prosthetic. Hiccup knew Gobber wanted to find out how it worked on his own so he let him have fun with it.
"There You Are!" Astrid's voice hissed. They jumped and looked to her standing in the doorway.
"Don't worry we got them!" Ruffnut replied, hanging off of Fishlegs shoulder.
"Gobber gave them some smacks and a talking too." Cami added offhandedly.
Astrid looked over at Gobber, who was too busy playing with Hiccup's prosthetic to notice, and back to the five of them. She was about to say something when Tuffnut pulled her inside.
"Perfect timing! Hiccup was just about to tell us how he lost his leg!" Tuffnut said while gesturing to the empty space between Hiccup's knee and the floor.
Hiccup could see Astrid's inner battle. Trying to decide if the story of his leg was worth giving up her anger.
"Fine." She eventually huffed out, crossing her arms. "What's the story?"
All eyes turned to Hiccup. He looked to Cami for help but she just shrugged at him.
"Okay…" Hiccup said, trying to piece together as much of the true story as possible.
"Well, like most, it was taken by a dragon." He started with an uncertain voice.
"Sound's like you're not too sure about that." Snotlout interjected.
"You see, the thing is, the dragon that took my leg…actually ended up saving my life. Ironically." He saw everyone look at him in confusion. Even Gobber turned to stare at him.
"It was four years ago. Me, Cami, and Thuggory were on an island. We thought it was deserted till we came across a cavern full of dragons." Cami nodded along.
"We were just about to sneak away when a giant dragon's head popped out of a hole in the ground! This dragon, the size of a mountain, came out of the ground and started roaring! It caused all the other dragons to start flying around, they were going crazy. Weirdly enough, none of them tried to attack us."
"Really?" Fishlegs asked, entranced by the story.
"Really! We realized they were just trying to get out of this monster's way. They were more afraid of it then they were of us!"
"I don't blame them! I saw it swallow two gronckles whole!" Cami shivered at the memory. Everyone went wide eye at just how big the dragon was if it could swallow two gronckles whole.
"This thing was mad! We think some of the dragons were trying to kill it and we happened to be there when it happened. Anyways! This thing was flailing around screaming and shooting LAVA OUT OF IT'S MOUTH!"
"It was as if a volcano became a dragon!" Cami added.
"The three of us some how got separated and I ended up stuck in the fire. I was trapped between a bunch of burning trees and rocks, there was no where for me to go. Then A DRAGON!" Hiccup screamed the last part, surprising everyone. Ruffnut and Fishlegs actually screamed and Snotlout fell out of his chair.
"It came barreling towards me! The last thing I remember is an extreme pain in my leg and everything was blurry." Hiccup leaned back in his chair and calmly finished his story.
"Then I blacked out." He smiled at everyone looking like they were waiting for more.
"Is that it?" Ruffnut asked impatiently.
"Basically." Hiccup laughed. "I woke up three weeks later on a Bog-Burglars ship without the bottom half of my left leg."
"But how did you get out of there?" Fishlegs asked, still stunned.
"Well, Cami and Thuggary found me on the outskirts of the fire. Missing a leg but otherwise fine. Seems like the dragon dragged me out of the fire, bit off my leg and ran away."
"Only Hiccup, am I right?" Cami laughed.
"Pretty good story kid!" Gobber returned his prosthetic. "I wouldn't mind taking a look at the blue prints for that."
"You want me to make you one?" Hiccup offered.
"Nah, my peg fits me jus' fine. Bu' I migh' know a few people who would like somethin' a little different."
"I can draw up some plans." Hiccup began going through his desk for a clean piece of parchment.
"Oh, wait! Some of those are mine!" Astrid stepped forwards just as Hiccup opened her plans for the arena addition. He started looked it over before she had a chance to grab it.
"Is this for the addition you're making?" He asked, a skeptic tone in his voice.
"Yeah…Gobber green lighted them last week. Why?" Astrid sounded worried.
"Seriously Gobber?" He yelled out. "Did you even look it over?"
"Course I did! There's nothin' wrong with it." Gobber came hobbling over, an irritated look plastered on his face.
"Did you not look at the roof?" Hiccup sassed right back. "That roof makes no sense with this layout. It'll collapse at the first sign of snow."
Hiccup could practically see the panic running through Astrid. They did just start construction so it might not be too late to fix it.
Gobber grabbed the blueprint from Hiccup and looked over it. Without changing his expression he gave it back to Hiccup and sighed.
"I'm gettin' too old for this." He mumbled, rubbing his face.
"Seriously Gobber!" Astrid yelled before turning to Hiccup. "Can you fix it? We JUST finished setting up the foundation! Are we going to have to change it?"
"Hey, hey calm down Astrid." Hiccup stood up, leaning against the desk for support. "I can fix it! I can! I've built plenty of buildings that haven't collapsed! I can make a roof that will work with what you already have planned. Okay?"
"You sure?" Astrid sounded anxious.
"Of course." Hiccup sat back down. "And don't take it too hard. Roof's are one of the toughest parts to plan out. I mean, look at Gobber's roof."
Astrid looked up and Hiccup watched her confused look turn into a stunned expression. Most people never notice, but Gobber's workshop is a disaster from the mess to the construction. How its still standing, he'll never know.
"Well, maybe if my apprentice didn' disappear and leave me with no help for five years I couldve fixed it." Gobber grumbled.
"Yeah, sure. It's not like I tried to get you to redo the shop for first ten years I worked here." Hiccup grumbled back. He flashed Astrid a smile before getting to work. Completely unaware of the blush that was growing on Astrid's face.
Two and a half hours later and a simple sketch for a new roof was finished. He still had a few things to measure and some problem areas to workout, but all in all it looked like it would fit. The Great Hall had opened for dinner an hour ago and now it was time for Hiccup to head back home. Cami was walking him back to his house while the others were eating.
"Not a bad story." Cami complimented. "That is basically what happened."
"Except we were riding dragons, and we were the one's that started the attack, and Toothless didn't mean to bite my leg off. It was the only way he could stop me from falling into a burning dragon corpse."
"Still, it's pretty close to the truth."
"Yeah." Hiccup sighed. "I wonder If I should just tell them the truth?"
"You're the one that said we shouldn't!"
"I know, I know! I just… I hate lying to everyone. You know? I left so I wouldn't have to hide behind lies."
They made it to Hiccup's house without running into anyone. Finally away form the town Hiccup was able to take the cloak off while Cami went to open the door. He waited but the door didn't open.
"Cami?" He turned to look at her. She was staring behind him with concern. Hiccup turned around, looking over the village but he didn't see anything. Finally his eyes settled on the ocean. A ship was headed to Berk, set to land in an hour or so.
Stoic the Vast, Chief of the Hooligan tribe, was home.