Review

Jean Naisley 7: I'm not too interested.

Now then, on with the story!

Shall we?

Chapter One: "We Understand Each Other."

It was just an average day in the Undercity with its normal events happening throughout the massive cave. Illegal goods being priced and said prices being argued over by the sellers and buyers. People working in the Mines for Piltover. The Great Fissure was being expanded by the hour.

Drunken men, or women, stumbling and waltzing into the brothels.

And orphan children struggling to get by.

Yeah, the Undercity sounds like a lovely place to live.

If not, there's always Gotham City. Oh wait. . .

Anyway, in the neighborhood known as The Lanes, people were adjusting to the new established order of Silco who had taken over the Last Drop along with the Chem-Barons.

There were people who remembered Vander and his leadership, however they were divided. They understood that Silco promised change that lead to respect from Piltover. There were those who supported the Eye of Zaun and those who wished for Vander's leadership.

Nonetheless, everyone in the Lanes and beyond knew things were changing.

What they didn't expect was a large flock of large reptilian creatures that looked like dragons from out of fairy tales and myths to be flying through the underground over the Undercity.

The dragons were silent as they flew over the city but most if not all were not meant to blend in with the shadows like the Alpha so eventually the people in the street saw them and the results were almost as one would expect.

Confusion.

"What in Janna are those things?!"

"They. . . They look like dragons."

"Dragons?

"Dragons."

And confusion led to panic.

"DRAGONS!"

Most people scrambled to hide, fearing that the dragons would swoop down and attack them. Most stories featuring dragons described the creatures as dangerous predators after all. Others froze in fear at the sight of looking to be a thousand dragons. Very few looked up in awe and wonder.

After all, you don't usually see something like dragons flying overhead. The sight looked very breathtaking to see.

Eventually, the dragons stopped flying and landed. They perched on the rooftops or simply landed in the Lanes with one particular dragon with scales black as the abyss or the night sky itself landed in front of the Last Drop.

The dragon itself was an eye-catcher alone, but what would and did catch the attention of anyone still outside in the Lanes was the fact that the dragon had a rider on its back.

The Rider wore clothes that appeared to be made out of dragon scales, clothes that had aged with time. A large ornate silver shield was on his back with a curled black dragon with a red tail fin symbol on it. His face was obscured by a black helmet and his left leg was made of metal and wood from below the knee.

"Excuse me," the Rider spoke to a man who was trying to slowly walk backwards away from the dragons. He had short blonde hair and glasses over his eyes. The Rider waved his hand. "Hi. Could you tell Silco that I would like to speak with him?"

The man shook before his mind registered the Rider's question and nodded his head fearfully and then scrambling into the bar.

If Hiccup was thirty years old or younger at this moment, he would have felt bad or amused about the man's understandable fear of his dragon and the flock behind him. But he was well over sixty five now, older than his father ever was, so he was stoic over the whole thing.

Originally, he wanted to keep the dragons a secret from the Undercity to his grave, but with what Ekko and his friends have told him, it was necessary for him to speak to the Eye of Zaun as a Dragon Rider with a display of strength, not just to Silco but to the entire Undercity.

There was a high chance of this reaching the ears of Topside and across the river, but that's inevitable. Besides, he doubts he would be around much longer.

Something Toothless and his apprentice and heir would have to deal with in the future, it seemed.

A woman with dark skin and black hair, a cloak over her left arm, walked out of the Last Drop and glared at him with a scowl.

"He'll talk but all your critters stay outside." the woman said firmly.

Hiccup shrugged. "Very well." he said, he dismounts Toothless. "But I should tell you, they'll know if and when I'm under threat. So I hope this place comes with insurance."

The woman's glare and scowl deepened but she says nothing as she leads Hiccup inside the bar. He looks around as he enters the doorway. "Hmm, charming place." he said with a hum. "Really lovely."

The woman says nothing and they keep walking, ignoring the stares the patrons were giving Hiccup as he walks to the hallway that would lead to the manager's office.

When the door opened and Hiccup entered, his eyes glanced upward when he heard movement in the rafters above him but chose to ignore it for now but be prepared for the worst. He walks up to the desk and takes off his mask.

The chair spins around and he sees the man. The Eye of Zaun. Silco.

"You're the 'Dragon Man' Mr. Edward was speaking of?" Silco asked.

Hiccup nodded his head once. "The name's Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III." he said.

Silco hummed. "With Edward's description, I was expecting someone of your reputation to be someone. . . younger."

Hiccup snorted. "And I expected the new leader of the Lanes to be someone. . . more intimidating." he retorted. "Or at least someone that could kill me with one hit but I'm speaking from experience along with information told to me by children. But I suppose that black marble of yours looks a little eerie." He shrugs his shoulders. "Might not be something I'd like to see in a dark alleyway, I suppose."

Silco chuckled lightly. "I guess all elders form some sass when they reach a certain age." he remarked. "Now that we have the pleasantries out of the way, why are you here?"

"Well, I wouldn't have come here if the one they call the Hound of the Undercity was here along with his friend Benzo and two sons and a daughter of his being alive." Hiccup replied bluntly. "But it has come to my attention that they are dead."

"Yes, they are." Was Silco's response, no empty apologies, no false sympathy, just facts.

"And you've killed them." continued the old man in kind. Silco nodded his head once, looking the older man in the eye. He saw Sevika rising to her feet but he held his hand up, telling her to stand down for now. "What's it to you?"

"Not to me, but a couple of children would like to understand why their parents and friends are dead," Hiccup replied. "So, I would like answers that you would provide. Clear, honest answers."

Silco narrowed his right eye before humming. He remembered the days after his falling out with Vander. He's been truly alone for the first time in a long while, there was no Vander to fall back on, no one to share his vision. He had to rebuild it all from zero and he had to do it on his own.

Now things finally seemed to take shape, his efforts paying off. But as much as he didn't want to admit it, he was mourning Vander, and he may continue mourning the man for the rest of his life.

The truth is that Silco hadn't wanted Vander to die. Or Benzo and not the children for that matter. He wanted for them to fight alongside once more; he wanted Vander to open his eyes and see that they couldn't keep living like this, that Piltover was the enemy, and that Topside was the only one benefiting from that little truce of his.

But Vander has always been stubborn and he's grown complacent. Silco knew that fool wouldn't come around and yet his death still stings, no matter how necessary it was.

"Who are you speaking for, Mr. Haddock?" Silco asked.

"I don't know much about the boy, but it is clear that guilt, confusion and grief is eating him alive," Hiccup replied. "I believe he may have been close to Vander and his makeshift family when he was under Benzo's care."

Silco hummed again, folding his hands. He had a vague recollection of spotting a shock of white hair while visiting Benzo's shop a few months prior to that night. "Benzo never knew when to back down."

Now he was just another body in a river full of them. But Silco was still here, and he hadn't lost sight of what Zaun could be, of what they had given up on.

And the boy has just become a gear in the machine of revolution. He looks up to Hiccup. "The boy will never stop grieving," Silco told him "It dulls with time, but the sting will never cease."

"Indeed," Hiccup said in agreement. He crosses his arms "Still, you haven't explained yourself. Why did you do what you did? That's what the boy wants to know. The blood spilled, the lives lost."

"The people of the Undercity deserve better, they may come to hate me but I want to free them," Silco replied. "Make a world where 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 wouldn't have had to die, a world where people can see us as monsters because they wouldn't have to do what we had to survive and. . ." He trails off, briefly in thought before adding, "you can be a part of this place's remaking."

The older man didn't say anything in response, his expression thoughtful before he spoke up again. "I've thought about what you said." A crease formed between Ekko's eyebrows and he looked a little bit conflicted, a little bit guilty. "But I still don't understand. You said you want to free Zaun-"

Silco froze; where did the old man hear that name from? (Not from the children, surely And the old man didn't seem to be a resident to know about the name. So where. . . ?) He wanted to ask, but the old man was still talking, a fiery quality to his voice, and Silco decided it wasn't the time to question his vocabulary.

"But you killed Vander, hadn't he wanted the same?" Hiccup asked. "And that thing, that Shimmer drugged beast of yours, how can anything like it be anything more than trouble?" He gestures around him. "How's any of this, the death of your friend and his friend and children, how is it helping? That's what the boy wants to know. Why'd you kill Benzo?"

Ah, there it is. Silco had wondered if the old man was going to bring that up.

"That wasn't supposed to happen," Silco told him, leaning against the small table next to the bed and running a hand through his slicked-back hair. "Shimmer in its purest form is a powerful stimulant, it enables its user to do things well outside their normal capabilities. It increases speed, stamina and strength, among other things." he explained. "But it still needs working on, and what happened to Benzo is a testament to its instability. What was supposed to be restraining turned into. . . bloodshed."

"That's it? Benzo and those three children were just casualties? " Asked Hiccup angrily and Silco knew he had to proceed with caution; otherwise, everything would blow up in his face.

"Benzo's is just one of the many useless deaths that occur every day in the Undercity." Silco answered. "Piltover thinks of us as rabid animals: disease-filled, mindless and dirty, but they have proven time and time again that they are the real beasts; how many people have died at the hands of the Enforcers? How-"

"I heard all about your cities' history when I came here. But Benzo and those children weren't the Enforcers' victims, they were yours!" Said Hiccup through clenched teeth, he was leaning on the desk between with narrowed eyes.

"They are the of the many to come, gaining independence for Zaun won't be a peaceful affair, it won't be bloodless." Silco replied.

Hiccup leaned back slightly, eyes narrowing more. "So am I to tell the boy that his father and his friends were what, a mistake on your end?"

"Mistakes are a part of life. Miscalculations, bad timing, unexpected circumstances; these are all factors that can condemn a plan to failure." Silco said sagely. "What happened at the cannery was unfortunate, and even though you or the boy you speak for, may not believe me, I didn't want it to come to that, but things have been put in motion a long time ago, and what came to pass cannot be undone."

"No, it can't," Hiccup said in agreement. "Okay, now there was another thing that the boy would like to know. He knows that his best friend is alive, with you, I assume in this building, named Powder. The boy and I would like to understand why she's with you when you are the cause of her family's death."

"She had nowhere else to go," Silco replied. "But she too had a hand in their deaths, unintentional." Hiccup's eyes widened slightly. "The boy will explain it more, but Powder is an inventor with potential. She came to the cannery with a bomb filled with crystals she didn't understand. Her family was caught in the explosion. Her older sister Violet survived. What she did to Powder wasn't just abandonment; it was betrayal; she turned her back on Powder when she should've made sure that what was left of her family, her people, wasn't lost. She left Powder to die when it was her that led her little group into a death trap."

Hiccup tilted his head. "You don't know what happened between them?" he asked.

Silco shakes his head. "I found the girl crying, calling for her sister and she never came." he said. "She hasn't spoken of what had happened between them. Recently, the new Enforcer sheriff told me that he found Violet dead. She must have gotten into a fight she couldn't walk away from."

Hiccup stares at him, looking for any deception before seeing nothing resembling and nods his head.

"Tell the boy to not let an accident dictate the rest of his life." Silco said, shaking his head. "He is still young but he has the chance to make a difference, to give Topside a taste of their own medicine. I know that this tragedy will weigh heavy on his shoulders, but he has time to grieve, to grow. Change won't happen overnight, but one day, we'll free Zaun."

"I've come to learn that strength takes many forms, but power, true power, only comes to those who are willing to do anything to achieve it." Silco said to Ekko. "A desperate man breaks any bounds, escapes any prison, crosses any line, it's a matter of incentive, of risk versus reward. So the question is what do you have to lose? Or perhaps more importantly, what do you have to gain? Do we understand each other?"

Hiccup was silent for a moment before eventually, he nodded his head at Silco. He knew what he had to do. What Ekko had to do. For the people, for Zaun.

"Yes. We understand each other now." Hiccup said. "The boy will be my heir, his friends my students. I will teach them all I know and explain what you have told me."

"After that, they will decide what to do."

With that, he left the room. Sevika eventually turned to Silco with a raised eyebrow. "Is his name seriously Hiccup?" she asked.

Silco shrugged. "Not the strangest name I've heard."

I got most of Silco's dialogue here from another fanfic on Ao3. But I have to admit, Silco is interesting to write. He's not sinister when I think about it more. He's broken, but he doesn't show it.

And Hiccup's interaction with him may be one of my favorite things from this fanfic.

Now I think this will be last chapter Hiccup will be in. He may appear in some flashbacks or so on. He is sixty-five years old and more importantly, living in the underground where the air sure isn't friendly for the elderly and their lungs. The Tree may provide clean air but sadly, it won't be enough. Plus, most Vikings realistically don't live that long.

But the good news is that he's passing the torch/saddle to Ekko.

I would like to have some input.

Should Hiccup have a peaceful death offscreen or should I give him one last flight with Toothless onscreen and have him die fighting?

Though I do think a Viking would like to die while fighting, no?

Either way, I'll give him a Viking funeral at the end of it, something he'll realistically explain to Ekko, I'm sure. It's what Hiccup deserves.