Right Prisoner, Wrong Prison

(Spoilers for Defenders of Berk and Race to the Edge.) Here's something that has upset me for a while with what happened between Berk and Berserker Island: Dagur went to Outcast Island's prison. This is never actually addressed, but I don't think it's fair. I'll explain why.

The main thing is that Dagur broke no law with Alvin. He broke it with Berk by going against the peace treaty their tribes shared. So, they should have been the ones to arrest him for that. Sending him to Outcast Island is comparable to someone breaking a lease with an apartment and getting fined by a grocery store. It doesn't make sense because that store has no jurisdiction here. If Alvin and Dagur also had a treaty, then fine, it would make sense, but there is no legal backing to support Alvin taking him prisoner.

Next, it's Alvin of all people. The Viking who goes by "The Treacherous" as his moniker. I sure hope that's not warranted...oh wait, it is. According to Gobber (I think, or Stoick) in Alvin's first episode, he has been Berk's enemy for 20 years. Wow. That is a lot of time to essentially be a violent criminal. Hiccup himself has even referred to him as a "Murderous barbarian." Wow again. Clearly, they know he is evil and has been their foe for a couple decades. So, what right does he have to act as anyone's jailer? The last time he was one, it was when he trapped Hiccup. I get it that he changed, but did he? Now, if I go into RTTE, I would feel more confident in saying that he did. Alvin coming to Berk to help out after Stoick got injured was genuinely kind of him. He didn't have to do that. However, as of DoB, he didn't do anything that great. Yes, Alvin helped stop Dagur, but it benefited him too. It wasn't altruistic. Alvin lost his island and was practically on the lam at that point. The options were: stay in protective custody on Berk or stop Dagur and get your island back. Of course he chose the latter. That's not enough to make me think he's an amazing person. He just didn't want to lose his home and have it stay lost. So, the murderous barbarian of 20 years is able to become someone's jailer. I don't even think Dagur is 20-years-old yet, so Alvin very likely could have been villaining (let's pretend this is a word) for longer than the Berserker's been alive.

What makes this worse is the actual relationship between Dagur and Alvin. Hypothetically, if they'd both agreed to work together and then Dagur just decided to lie, I would support Alvin's decision. It would be messed up to do that, but this isn't what happened. Or at least not entirely. From Hiccup's perspective it is and I think this is what led to the imprisonment. Hiccup goes to Outcast Island and sees the two Vikings shaking hands. The next time he sees them, they're fighting and Dagur has the Skrill. Hiccup probably assumes that Dagur betrayed Alvin and then tried to kill him, which would be a fair assumption, but it doesn't make this true. Both parties were planning to betray one another, but an argument could be made that Dagur was lying. Alvin said that he'd learn what he could about the Skrill, then kill Dagur and his men. I believe that. Dagur said he'd use Alvin to get the Skrill, then kill him and his men. I don't believe that. Why? Because Dagur went and got the Skrill...then left.

Dagur didn't even need to make an agreement with Alvin if he wanted to kill him. He has an armada of 50k Vikings. Alvin has probably a hundred men. He's a strong Viking, but he's not "I can kill fifty thousand attackers" strong. So, Dagur could have immediately come and attacked as soon as he saw the Skrill was in his possession. Instead, he agreed to work together (even though he didn't plan on doing it for long). Again, after this, he left. What was stopping him from using the Skrill to attack Alvin and his people then? It wouldn't make sense to return home only to go right back, so the idea of that being his plan seems unlikely. I don't think he was going to attack. He said he would (just like he let everyone think he killed Oswald). Dagur was a new, young chief with problems. They didn't have faith in him, but if he seemed dangerous and scary, even if they lacked trust, they could have fear. That was enough for him at the time. If he's let his people believe he'd do something so violent as patricide, I can believe he'd let them think he'd kill Alvin. Yet, when the time could have come, Dagur took the peaceful route, which is precisely why Hiccup would believe that he didn't. It's surprising that he did, so it's more likely to believe he was the one attacking.

Alvin was actually the one to initiate the fight. Dagur was on his way back home, but Alvin tracked him down and said he'd "Cut [him] to pieces." That sounds like a death threat to me. At this point, Dagur using the Skrill is self-defense. He does try to kill Alvin, but he's still Dagur and is still going to be a violent person. It's not helping that he was attacked first. So, this is the bad blood between the two of them. Somehow, Alvin gets to be the one who was actually going to kill Dagur and also the one who is in charge of him in prison. That is some cruel fate.

Even looking at the actual time in prison makes it bad too. How long was the sentence? It's never stated. It's probably never stated because Alvin was never going to release him. I think Heather later says that she'll bring Dagur back to Outcast Island so that he can spend the rest of his days rotting in a cell. That's what was planned for him. It frustrates me how little is discussed about his time there. Why does he have a haircut? Why does he have that gnarly scar??? That is by far the most gruesome scar of any other character. They all have one over their eyebrows or dragon claw marks (or lava burns later).

I have spent an unhealthy amount of time looking at Dagur's scar because I wanted to understand how this even happened. Just check this thing out. It's not something that could be done in a simple slash. The longest one is from the temple to the chin, there's one around the cheekbone, over the eye, and the last one is sort of under the eye and down. If it was a blade, it would have had to have been made with 4 slices and I've also heard the theory that it was a whip. Ow to either. I don't buy that Dagur would do this to himself. He was way too cocky to self-mutilate. Maybe hair is a status symbol for Vikings of the Archipelago, so Alvin chopped that off and then gave him that scar. A horribly sad headcanon which I've seen many writers have (that I share) is that he was assaulted in prison as well. It's probably true. We see him in a cell on his own, but that could've been after he killed his cellmates. I also wouldn't put it past the guards. Either way, I think it's a bad case of Dagur being the youngest and smallest person there around a lot of touch-starved Vikings. As good of a fighter as he is, this could have happened because he was outnumbered, maybe he had on restraints at the time, or the guards even could have threatened to go after his Berserkers if he fought back.

Admittedly, this part is speculation. We don't know if that happened. Realistically, it probably would have, though, and you can look at him to see that he has not really been sleeping these past 3 years. I don't think there's another character with bags under their eyes like this Berserker. Plus, the one time we see him sleeping, he wakes up like it was some horrible nightmare. I'll concede again that the reason behind this is up for theorizing. What we do know is that he went in, got that scar, and broke out. Only, I think it's a shame that he was put there to begin with. If he had gone to Berk's prison like they sent Alvin to in Cast Out, maybe he wouldn't have gotten so bad. Dagur became noticeably more violent and evil after breaking out of prison than he was before going in. Afterwards, he killed just for the sake of killing. I remember him getting annoyed with Savage for not knowing that they were going to kill the merchants after taking their weapons instead of just paying for them. That Dagur would have killed Alvin to take the Skrill, no questions asked. So, it really is pretty sad that someone who already wasn't necessarily okay to begin with was turned into so much more of a threat. Maybe Dagur would have been able to turn over a new leaf sooner and start fresh if he'd stayed on Berk. What we got was basically a representation of mentally ill people being arrested and not getting better because they're forgotten about and further traumatized by the experiences of prison instead of actually receiving the therapies needed to help them. I suppose that I should get off the soapbox now. If anyone's interested in these ideas being in a story, I wrote one called Rehabilitation on AO3 and Fanfiction.net. Hope you enjoy if you check it out!

The Second Day of Doomsday

I've brought down my copy of How to Be a Pirate off the shelf and I must admit how fond I am of this book. This is where the setup really begins for the story we are about to embark upon. The first book was really more of a prologue and this is the real beginning.

This is where we introduce characters like Alvin the Treacherous and Grimbeard the Ghastly. This is where we introduce the idea of the quests and where we really establish who these people are, Hiccup and Fishlegs and Toothless.

There are so many iconic scenes in this book. The entire episode with the coffin, to the escape of the Isle of the Skullions, to the battle on the ships, Hooligans vs Outcasts.

And of course, the Treasure of the Cavern. What an epic first battle between two evenly matched enemies (if only one was a little older and the other a little smarter). However I must admit my favorite part isn't the finding of the Treasure, nor is it the battle for it. It's the little bit at the end, where Hiccup notices a piece of paper nailed to the backside of the door they came in through.

This is one of only a handful of scenes I regularly come back to reread. This letter, and Hiccup's decision after reading it, both changed who I am as a person and cemented Book!Hiccup as one of my favorite and most relatable characters of all time.

For context, teenage me read this book for the first time through audiobook, and every single time the story came to a place where Hiccup needed to make a decision, I'd hit pause. I'd think about it. What would I do? And what did I think Hiccup would do?

So when I finished Grimbeard's letter I knew I had to pause again. To know about this fearsome pirate of a Viking king who gathered all this treasure and came to regret it based on what it turned his people into... that was so powerful to me. It wasn't that he got bored of his riches, or lost it in a shipwreck. It was that in the gain of fortune, he lost his friends to greed and lust for power. And so he decided to get rid of it, leave it for some far-off distant person who deserved it. Someone who would do the right thing with it.

And so I had a decision to make. What would I do with it? I remember the moment so vividly. It must've been 2 a.m. on a school night. I thought about all the good things money can buy. All the good causes money can be put to. But then I remembered that this isn't a question for me in my life, this is a question for me in Hiccup's shoes. This isn't exactly what I would do, this is what would I do if I were him? And so I determined that I would leave it there. They weren't ready yet.

What a beautiful surprise to me, when I pressed play on the audiobook again, and listened to Hiccup make that same decision with the same words that I had used.

Fishlegs didn't understand, but he respected Hiccup enough that he kept the secret all his life. And then, in writing this book himself as a memoir left to us, Old Man Hiccup trusts us the readers with the knowledge of this treasure too. What would we do with it in the present day?

I think again of all the good causes money can be put to today. But the purpose of the question is not to think of those, I think. The purpose should be to remember that long ago the Vikings were not capable of having beautiful and dangerous things and using them wisely. Nor are we capable of using them wisely today.

I imagine myself holding the second of Hiccup's memoirs. I imagine myself flipping to the last page and I imagine myself writing there the same words he wrote on the bottom of a letter nailed to a door in an underwater cavern.

"Still Not Ready."

(And before I go, a special shout-out to Grimbeard's favorite sword. Because sometimes second best is best. I would remember that line in music university every time I went into the practice rooms and went into the room with the second-best piano. I spent many many hours in that small storage closet of a room without AC. No one ever fought me for it. Thinking about it now, I've built quite a lot of my skill on the keys of second-best pianos. And I was always significantly less shaken than my peers when a note buzzed or when the pedals got stuck. Because hey, when you're a pianist you don't always get to choose, you play on what they give you when you show up.)

RIDERS OF BERK | HTTYD SERIES | BREAKING DOWN HICCUP

Blog Post Series : Breaking Down Hiccup

Title : In Dragons we Trust | Alvin and the Outcasts

Ep/Season : Episode 5 & 6, Season 1 (Riders of Berk)

Premise(s) :

Mildew sets out get rid of the dragons. As usual. Alvin the Treacherous, a long term enemy of Berk has now ceased the opportunity to appear and kidnap the dragon conqueror for himself, much to his surprise.

THE OPENING SCENE

The opening sequence of Episode 5 is cathartic. When Hiccup free falls, there is such freedom and release. He glides in the air with such ease. The artistic direction of the show is refined. Hiccup is the bravest in the sky, and ironically, somewhat uncomfortable on land. He is himself with Toothless, or in a better way put - more himself. But without Toothless, he is always placed in a position of finding himself.

Episode 5 and 6 is exactly that. We know that Mildew’s scheme to get rid of the dragons succeeds at the end of Episode 5. And Hiccup is now looking for an opportunity to get Toothless back and bring him home. The struggle now begins as Hiccup has to find his strength in the absence of his best friend.

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

HICCUP HORRENDOUS HADDOCK III

At the start of Episode 5, we are made aware of the dynamic of Hiccup in the village. There is now no disputing that he is Stoic’s heir. I’d like to think that the village was worried having Hiccup as chief initially. He’s scrawny, tiny, couldn’t/wouldn’t kill a dragon. He didn’t fit the Viking mould. Even Stoic was concerned. But after the battle with the Red Death, no one can fault Hiccup’s stubbornness and bravery. His courage was unmatched. His compassion greater than the scale of his measure and his understanding even larger.

So, when we go into Riders of Berk, Hiccup is undisputedly next in line. This is reflected in what Stoic tells Hiccup in Episode 5 “all eyes are upon you son, whatever those beast do reflects on you AND whatever you do reflects on ME.”

RELATIONSHIP DYNAMIC

FATHER-SON & CHIEF

Hiccup is trying to prove himself. And while Stoic has done better after the events of the 1st movie, in terms of parenting, he still struggles to divide his position as chief and his role as father. This context is often a topic when we follow a storyline involving royalties and their heirs.

Stoic doesn’t want to disappoint his son, but he must also protect his village, which is allegedly being ruined by something his son loves the most and believes are innocent.

The question of trust is still a running theme between father and son.

And the notion of whether Hiccup is a worthy leader hangs lightly in the air.

The living situation between dragons and Vikings is still precarious.

HICCUP X ASTRID

I can’t not talk about them. When Hiccup was contemplating the series of unfortunate events, he starts to believe that Mildew set everything up. After they leave the dragons on Dragon Island, Astrid, sad and upset looks for him. I notice that the two of them, in the earlier days of friendship, often sought each other for support (as they will continue to do into their relationship).

At the same time, Hiccup confides in Astrid the possibility of Mildew’s treason. She has always been his voice of reason. A great listener. She doesn’t nudge him towards the impulsive but is wise in her counsel, letting him make his own decisions, but reminding him to calculate them. We know they grew up together, but the grew together as well, if you get what I’m saying.

This reminds of the final movie, when Gobber pesters Astrid to marry him. It is because he knows that Astrid makes Hiccup better. Even Valka acknowledges that he listens to her. There will always be a Hiccup and Astrid.

HICCUP V ALVIN THE TREACHEROUS

Alvin the Treacherous (voiced by Mark Hamill might I add 🙌🏼) is Hiccup’s first enemy. I get that Mildew might be considered the first, but he wasn’t a real threat to Berk (yet).

Something Hiccup proves very well, is that he is brave. He isn’t stupidly audacious, like Snotlout, who when push comes to shove might run away from the challenge (though arguably Snotlout gets better towards the end).

He is also very clever. He chooses his battles and uses psychology to outwit his enemies, instead of brute strength, which most of them would have more than him anyways.

HEROIC STORY LINES

UNDERRATED ROMANTIC | CHIVALRY AIN’T DEAD

Hiccup heroically shows up just when Astrid needs him. I love these little touches. Hiccup continues to prove himself to be nothing like “Stoic’s little embarrassment.”

Hiccup tries to trick Alvin. Astrid catches on quickly (proving their inward connection) and plays along w his plan. We know that this rouse may not fly if it was put against the twins or Snotlout, who may not get the idea immediately and Fishlegs would be too nervous to act it out well.

HICCUP’S BRAVERY

Was it stupid to let Alvin take him hostage? Yes, but Hiccup was unafraid. And didn’t even flinch while captive. He grows a lot in these two episodes. I love that his size holds no comparison to his courage.

BATTLE STRATEGY IMPROVES

While Alvin will prove to be a lesser evil than the demons that will soon chase him in later seasons, Hiccup and the way he manoeuvres Toothless on the battle field will improve and match up w the evil at hand. The turns he makes when battling Alvin is a little clumsy and out of touch, but this will change as he practices and progresses in the story. I like that they made it look that way, as opposed to Hiccup just naturally knowing how to fight w Toothless by his side. I appreciate the growth they’re trying to lay out here.

Likewise, the way the riders work as a team will also progress. The other’s seemingly irrelevant rattlings will prove useful, and Hiccup will learn to be a leader, team player and friend to them and they to him.

CONCLUSION

I loved how Stoic faced off Alvin. Punishing him for taking Hiccup. Which shows off his tenacity, strength and love for his son.

I like how though Mildew wasn’t outed, he didn’t need to be. It’s like a lesson in “things don’t always work out the way you want it to and justice isn’t always served independent of evidence". But when you do the right thing, things will workout, and that’s exactly what happened.

I love that at the end of the episodes, the village cheered on the dragon riders sparking on a desire to let them stay and tolerate a free roaming dragon city.

And although I would love to say that Alvin the Treacherous was a brilliant swordfighter, the truth is that he was just so-so at the Art, preferring to poison his enemy's cup or bash him from behind with a rock to fighting him face to face. But he was still much older, stronger and more experienced than Hiccup.

And he's also a grown man attacking an injured 10 year old boy who's already been through the wringer for completely petty reasons.

The first book referenced Artemis as being a threat and enemy of the People as an adult, with the book displaying that he was a threat even as a child, so something has to change. Maybe the other Artemis can come back? Someone other than Opal, but still a little serious. Like what How to Train Your Dragon (the books) had with Alvin the Treacherous.

Another reference i don't understand! I've watched the HTTYD movies, but not read the books. So I'll take your word for it on Alvin the Treacherous :)

The first book is also, if we assume the whole thing follows the prologue of a report compiled by Argon, told by an unreliable narrator. Argon is...not the greatest at being impartial and thinking outside his paycheck. Artemis also apparently worked with the fairies for years in a friendly capacity, but I wouldn't argue that even as a friend he's not a threat.

The phrase "two can keep a secret if one is dead" comes to mind; Artemis had helped save the entirety of Haven from a goblin rebellion and the Council still made him wear a self-destruct incinerator pack before agreeing to help him rescue his father in the middle of the Arctic where no one voluntarily goes, so clearly the People's concern for human life - even the lives of friends - only goes so far, and there's always the risk Artemis tells someone he shouldn't something about the People.

So again, I'd like to see the cast all-grown-up, as it were, not just shipped off to space, but I think I'd like some of the lighthearted tone of the original books to stay the same.

Instead of Artemis being able to take off to save the world on a strict timeline of We Have Seven Hours Before Haven Is Exposed, I would like it to have more of a We Have Three Hours Before My Meeting With The Shareholders That I Really, Really Can't Reschedule Again vibe, or even something more lighthearted, like My Kid's Band Recital Is Tonight, We Have To Save The World Before 6pm - And I Have To Pick Up Milk On The Way Home When We're Done

The Phantom of the Archipelago  Countdown!

One week from now, on March 21st around 6 PM CET (What time is that for me?) the first chapter of The Phantom of the Arena’s sequel, The Phantom of the Archipelago will be released. Subsequent chapters will be published once every two weeks after that, always on Saturdays around 6 PM CET.

I am super excited to get back to actively publishing, and to celebrate my return to the Phantomverse, the coming week on my blog will be Phantom-themed, with me reblogging all the lovely fan content I have received for the first fic. Just as another thank you to you all, because I love you so much for supporting me <3

To give you an idea of what to expect, you can all already find the summary and the tag list below! I will also be doing another Six Sentence Sunday tomorrow, during which I will post another six sentences from the first chapter. 

And in case you haven’t read The Phantom of the Arena itself yet, and want to... Why wait any longer? ;) 

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The Phantom of the Archipelago

Rating: Mature

Archive Warnings: Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: F/M, M/M

Relationships: Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III/Astrid Hofferson, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III & Stoick the Vast, Eret/Viggo Grimborn, Eret/Tuffnut Thorston, Stoick the Vast/Valka, Snotlout Jorgenson/Ruffnut Thorston, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III/Alexander (OC) (Flashbacks Only)

Characters: Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, Astrid Hofferson, Stoick the Vast, Original Child(ren) of Astrid and Hiccup, Hamish Haddock, Eret (How to Train Your Dragon), Original Family of Eret, Nilas, Rana, Viggo Grimborn, Ryker Grimborn, Dagur the Deranged, Alvin the Treacherous, Drago Bludvist, Toothless (How to Train Your Dragon), Valka (How to Train Your Dragon), Snotlout Jorgenson, Ruffnut Thorston, Original Child(ren) of Snotlout and Ruffnut, Solveig Jorgenson, Heather (How to Train Your Dragon), Fishlegs Ingerman, Gobber the Belch, Spitelout Jorgenson, Brant Ingerman, Brenda Ingerman, Shrug Ingerman, Savage (How to Train Your Dragon), Atali (How to Train Your Dragon), Stormfly (How to Train Your Dragon), Alexander (Flashbacks Only), Tuffnut Thorston, Astrid Hofferson's Parents, Sigrid Hofferson, Arne Hofferson

Other tags: Sequel to The Phantom of the Arena, Phantomverse, Emotional Trauma, Father-Son Relationship, Trauma, Scars of the Past, Phantomcup, Phantom!Hiccup, Darker-than-Canonverse Hiccup, Hiccup facing actual consequences for the things he did in the previous story, And Gods there are a lot of them, hiccup pov, Eret POV, Small parts of Stoick and Astrid POV, Family Feels, You thought Berk hated the Phantom? Wait until you meet Viggo

Summary: After five years of relentlessly putting up a siege against the Red Death, Hiccup, the former terrorist known as the Phantom of the Arena, has finally defeated the Archipelago's greatest enemy, putting a definitive end to the dragon raids. Hoping the worst is finally behind him, he returns to Berk, only to find he left more behind than just the girl he loved. And that life still isn’t done with him.

Outside of the Archipelago, Eret, son of Eret, is left with nothing after a mysterious dragon rider destroys his fort and releases the captured dragons his employer sorely needed. Fearing he’ll be killed if he doesn’t, he flees to the Archipelago with what little remains, hoping to find employment in the dragon-infested area. But the threat seems to have followed him, as news spreads of how Berk's infamous Phantom has returned to reclaim what's his. And that people like Eret will never be safe, unless they act against him.

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(Special thanks to @celtictreemuffin​ for making the moodboard <3 The Toothless figurine was found here)

His Only Death

Summary: HICCUP WHUMP. Minor major character death. After all of Hiccup's close encounters, after all the times Hiccup survived that which should've killed him, that he would live a long life despite everything seemed like a given.

Rating: Mature

Words: 3 915

Author’s Notes: This fic was actually part of a multi-chaptered fic, but I felt like this chapter, if edited a little, could be its own thing as well. So have this.

Also, I'm a slut for mysterious revivals, okay? And I am disappointed with the lack of revival fics in the Httyd fandom. It's honestly a surprise I haven't filled my account only with fanfics of characters being revived by some mysterious force.

Freedom and death came from the ocean.

For two whole weeks Hiccup had been stuck on that ship.

Far away from Toothless, from family and from Berk, the young Chief had spend the past fourteen days surrounded by nothing but enemies of his tribe on a single boat in the middle of the Barbaric Ocean.

An ambush had been staged on an island Hiccup once thought belonged to allies. He'd gone there with a handful of Berk's best, Snotlout and Eret included, to sign a peace treaty like his father had done for decades before him. He'd gone there without dragons to show his trust and goodwill.

Astrid, meanwhile, kept watch over their home as acting Chief in his stead with the rest of the Dragon Riders.

Their group had been ambushed the same night they'd arrived. When most of them were drunk from the feast thrown in their honour, their fighting spirit only lasted for so long and there were too many for Hiccup, one of the few still remaining sober, to take on alone.

Though smart and skilled with a sword, he hadn't been able to put up much of a fight.

The Berkians send home with the longboat they travelled all this way on and a message, their Chief shipped off with the men of a different tribe, but who were also a part of the surprise attack.

It was a conspiracy apparently. Two or three tribes had conspired together to separate Berk from their famous "Dragon Chief" for reasons unknown.

Was it mistrust? Did they hold the same motive as Alvin the Treacherous once did when he was a boy?

Hiccup wasn't sure why or how many were involved yet.

Without food, with barely any water, exposed to the salty air and the surprisingly scorching sun, he found he could hardly think at all.

This entire time he'd been chained outside on the deck by his wrists, left to face the elements with no relief. His clothes, though torn from the battle, still did their job and kept the cold of the Archipelago out. But all day in the sun, sweat made sure it clung to him.

Perhaps their plan all along was to get rid of him. They cared little for his health and well-being to prove otherwise.

During these endlessly long weeks, he'd been spat on, kicked, beaten, dragged by the hair, insulted, degraded, starved... The list was much longer than Hiccup would ever admit to any of his friends and certainly not to his mother or Gobber. And he was pretty sure the fight in which he'd been captured had left him with a dislocated shoulder and bruised ribs.

Something wasn't quite right with his right forearm either. It had been hit by a mace. His armbrace had been lost before it could protect that limb.

Physically, Hiccup was at the end of his rope. Mentally and emotionally, he still held out hope to hear the shrill cry of his Night Fury before raining down fire and death on this ship and these men. But they, too, were not far behind.

It shouldn't take much longer now. The longboat must have returned days ago, the Dragon Riders must be on their way. Dragons were so much faster than ships.

He wanted to be home. He was exhausted.

His eyes were closed. His skin was so burned from the sun, his lips were dry.

"Hey, Runt."

A kick to his ribs left him breathless and send him to the floor, but Hiccup didn't make a single sound or move besides his gasps for air. There was no more fight left in his body. He was pretty sure he'd lost weight already. He'd been surviving solely on water.

And his ribs, did one of them crack just then? He wasn't sure, but the pain was there all the same. They've been through a lot of abuse, he wouldn't be surprised if they were, at the very least, terribly bruised.

Words were being said, but Hiccup teetered on the line between conscious- and unconsciousness. There was a haze over his mind, a thick mist. He understood nothing.

"Hey, RUNT!"

Though Hiccup's mind was dazed and cloudy, whoever was talking managed to draw his attention again with a devastating kick to the groin, followed by one more to the face.

It hurt so bad. Whines and whimpers were the first sounds Hiccup's parched throat made in hours and even those hurt. His lip was now split and blood came trickling out of his nose. Existence was pain. The tears that sprung into his eyes were of what little fluid left in him.

He wanted to glare up to his captors, spit his spilt blood in their faces and make them call him by his real name.

It was a first, but Hiccup missed hearing his own name.

Spirit with a dying fire, body well past drained, there was little he could do besides stare up at the three people gathered around him, curled up onto his side with his legs pressed firmly together.

They were talking, he didn't understand a word they were saying. He saw their lips move, but nothing of what they said registered properly in his mind. To him, from this distance, they were nonsensical sounds.

And his eyes were slipping closed again.

"Hey. Hey!"

Someone grabbed him by his ruined tunic, his vest missing, and lifted him up, but his aching form remained limp in his hold. The strength to stand was lost to him.

His joints screamed, they were stiff from the lack of movement. Everything screamed. The friction of the chains around his chafed wrists made his naked skin burn.

He saw angry grey eyes and then his own drooped once more.

It was so hard to stay awake. He realized he didn't want to fight it either.

"Hey! Hey!" Someone kept shouting, apparently trying really hard to be heard, but they sounded so far away.

"Shit, you think he's dying?" But at least now, because of their close proximity, Hiccup could somewhat make out what they were saying.

"Did the Chief say anything about keeping the Dragon Runt alive?" A different voice, but still male.

"No, he didn't." Another. By now Hiccup felt like it weren't just the three of them surrounding him anymore. The original number of the crew escaped him, but there were so many faceless things around him.

"So I guess," It was the first one who began once more, the same one who'd been kicking him. The places hit were still in pain.

"If we were to throw him overboard, it wouldn't matter much, would it?" Hiccup tried to open his eyes, he wanted to look them in the eye and tell them that he wasn't dying on that ship, but once more his will burned brighter than the fire of his physical being and it, too, was waning.

What was the point of being stubborn, if he was imprisoned in his own unmoving body?

"Toothless..." The Night Fury's name rolled off his tongue, but it was barely audible even to himself. It was softer than a whisper.

"What do we tell the Chief?"

"He fought back. The idiot threw himself overboard trying to reach his fellows and drowned."

Hiccup couldn't follow the rest of the conversation.

He slipped, he fell unconscious.

And then he fell for real.

Hiccup never felt the wood of the ship or chains be released, but the salty water of the ocean taking him into its freezing cold embrace and filling his nostrils and lungs cruelly ripped him out of the comforting darkness he'd only spend the past few moments in.

The chill was too harsh on skin reddened by the sun.

His mind clearer than it had been in hours, an instinct to survive no matter what kicked in. One final act to save himself.

Wrists still bound, metal leg gone, ignoring the shouts for rest, Hiccup tried and tried to breach the surface.

He couldn't even reach it.

Legs kicking, arms flailing, hands grabbing, but he was tired and he wasn't getting very far. He wasn't getting anywhere at all. Instead of rising higher, he sank deeper and deeper. Try as he might, Hiccup could not reach the surface of the water.

Fresh air wasn't his to have, the sun he'd disliked for the past fourteen days told him a mournful goodbye and everything that hurt began to hurt even more.

His lungs burned. His eyes burned. His heart yearned.

For Toothless, for Astrid, for his mother, for dad.

After all this time, after all his close encounters, water would be his grave in the end.

It became dark, his movements ceased. Surrounded by the enclosing shadows of the deep ocean and all that lived within, his body stopped moving for the last time and he continued his descend.

It was calm, peaceful, once the pain eventually stopped.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A tearful reunion was found on the shores.

And it was Toothless who found him.

After the Hooligan longboat returned to Berk, it were a panicked Snotlout and a distressed Eret who told the rest of the Dragon Riders, Valka, Gobber and the village what had happened to their Chief of only three years.

It was difficult to make sense of what they were trying to tell them, even Eret had a hard time keeping his sanity. The duty to protect the Dragon Rider, even if it cost him his life, had been his since Hiccup had first taken up the mantle at the much too young age of twenty. And he'd failed miserably.

But sense was made of their jumbled words and contradicting stories. The lost details mattered little. What truly mattered was that Hiccup had been captured, there was a conspiracy and the ambush had taken place a week prior to their return.

A rescue was urgent and nobody had any idea where the ship holding Hiccup hostage had gone to.

But Toothless was given his automatic tailfin, allowing him to search independently, and off he went.

He refused to wait for the other Dragons and their Riders. Hiccup needed him. He wasn't about to be slowed down by careful planning and preparing.

The ocean would keep him fed, water he could find on other islands, local dragons could tell him where they'd last seen a certain known human dragon, scents he knew by memory would lead him straight to Hiccup. He needed nothing else.

It was a Scauldron, local to the area, that ended up telling him that someone had washed ashore on an island almost an hour by flight away.

Toothless wasted no time.

He knew Hiccup never should've left without him. He also knew why his Rider had left without him, but as noble as his intentions were, something inside of Toothless had always told him this would go horribly wrong.

He hated how his protective nature was once again in the right.

But Hiccup had to be close now. He's been searching for days, Hiccup should be close.

Then Toothless arrived at the island the Scauldron told him about and he saw something lying on the beach, just like he'd said.

Gliding downwards, the closer he came, the stiller his heart became.

That lanky figure he could recognize from anywhere.

Hiccup.

With a worried roar Toothless folded his wings and fell down the rest of the way, still landing gracefully on his feet.

Hiccup, his beloved Rider, lied there in the sand. Head turned away from him, arms to his side, clothes torn, leg gone, hair dry and body still wet from his hands down due to the calm waves washing over him.

And pale. So ghostly pale.

Despite being right next to him, Toothless almost didn't dare touch him. He was afraid of what he might find.

But the Night Fury forced himself to move. He needed to know. Hesitantly, with legs filled with lead, he stood over him.

And found Hiccup's eyes to be closed. If anything, he looked quite calm. Not angry, not sad, nor agonized.

At least he wasn't staring at nothing.

Carefully lifting up a paw, Toothless nudged his Rider's shoulder and felt an unpleasant chill run up his spine from how freezing cold the body before him felt.

The distressing realization that this was exactly what was lying on the sand in front of him nearly made Toothless lose it.

But no, that was impossible. This was Hiccup and he was a fighter.

And yet, besides the breeze of the beach blowing through his hair, there was no movement.

Deciding that he needed to be more daring, Toothless rumbled a greeting and began nudging his Rider's back, really pushing his snout and the flat top of his head into him. He tried not to let the deathly chill get to him.

It wasn't his intention to roll Hiccup onto his back, but it was what ended up happening. At least he wasn't stiff yet. Dead bodies, real dead bodies, they grew stiff after some time.

Standing over him, like he'd done countless of times before while they playfought, Toothless held his face right in front of his Rider's.

His heart shattered, his sprinting thoughts halted, when he noticed no warm breaths of life coming from his nose or his parted lips. No breaths at all.

Hiccup wasn't breathing.

He was freezing and he wasn't breathing.

Pressing an earfin to his chest like he'd seen Vikings do to their fallen companions before, he listened desperately for a heartbeat, no matter how soft.

And found nothing but silence.

Toothless crashed.

Losing all feeling in his body, his limbs caving in beneath him, heart bleeding, he crashed into the sand next to his Rider and crooned mournfully over the loss of his soulmate.

Gone. His Hiccup, his clever boy, was gone.

He should've noticed.

He should've noticed.

He had noticed.

There was a gaping hole in his chest and mind. It's been there for days, but he'd ignored it, telling himself it was worry and fright slowing him down.

But what if it had been his Rider leaving this world? Though it should've been impossible, Toothless had always known he'd feel it one day. He and Hiccup were just too inexplicably close not too.

He never could've imagined that day would come so soon.

Closing his eyes, he settled his head and nearest foreleg on Hiccup's torso, still crying. Each time his lungs ran out of breath, he'd start over. He hoped Hiccup could hear him wherever he was now. He knew Vikings believed in Valhalla.

He didn't have the strength or the will to do much else.

If he were to mysteriously perish right here by his side, he would be thankful.

He wanted to be up there in the golden halls with him, not here on Midgard without him.

There were dragons.

Tiny Terrible Terrors who caught sight of them and came over to see what was wrong with the mighty Night Fury that seemed to be mourning a human. Proud Monstrous Nightmares who saw it their duty to see what was the matter. Kind Gronckles who simply wanted to lend a hand to the distressed being. Toothless chased them all away. Even the tiny crabs living on the beach, they risked death by plasma blast just for coming too close.

It was a maddening sight, but even in death Toothless would protect Hiccup.

Every creature that dared to come, it enraged him further.

Hiccup had been hurt. Toothless didn't know by who or how, but he would be hurt no more.

Roaring, firing, intimidation, he used all he could. Growing angrier and angrier until he crashed down once more with a long and pained roar. Finally, he was alone with Hiccup again. Hours must've passed by already. They were both an eternity and yet much too short to have been real.

The unfamiliar dragons who inhabited this island, they kept their distance at long last. That is all Toothless wanted.

To be left alone.

With a paw he held Hiccup closer to himself, gently, carefully, he barely moved him. He needed him close.

And then.

A noise.

It was a wheezing sound, new, recent. Just soft enough to be blamed on a broken mind's imagination, but as a Night Fury Toothless possessed sensitive hearing.

And his ears picked it up from within his Rider's chest.

It wasn't there before and entire hours had passed since his arrival. Midday had already turned to midnight.

And now somebody or something must be playing tricks on him, because it sounded like Hiccup was breathing.

Lifting his head up, heaving his weighty physique up, Toothless looked down and saw Hiccup gazing back at him.

Still blueishly pale, brows knitted together, purple lips trembling, Hiccup stared back him through grey, dead eyes. They looked almost like that of a felled fish.

A corpse's eyes. And they were filled with such intense suffering.

Though having absolutely no idea what was going on, Toothless spurred himself into action and rubbed his cheek against Hiccup's.

Sharing his warmth was all he could think about.

He noticed the human's fingers twitching as if he wanted to move, but couldn't. He heard scared whimpers and pained moans. Soft, but heartbreaking nonetheless.

Neither knew what was going on. Hiccup was confused, he was in pain, he was scared. And all Toothless could do was be there for him.

Lying down next to him, Toothless recreated his previous position, draconic head and foreleg on human torso. He hoped Hiccup knew he was telling him "I'm here. I'm right here."

Perking an earfin and pressing it to his chest, he also heard the soft thumping of a heartbeat that wasn't there before either.

And he was no longer unnervingly still. Hiccup couldn't move, that much was clear to the Night Fury, but now he trembled so awfully.

Toothless wasn't sure how long it would take for the other Dragon Riders to find them, he wasn't sure of a lot of things. Like how his Viking could be dead for hours one moment and then alive the next.

But until the others came, he'd keep Hiccup safe. He couldn't just fly them home, Fishlegs needed to take a look at him first, lest he loses him again.

But he shouldn't wait for them here.

It was night, the breeze was cold and Hiccup was still partially submerged in water, he wouldn't be warming up here and Toothless didn't want to risk anything.

Raising his head, Toothless began his search for shelter. There wasn't much he could see from his position, but at the same time, he refused to leave Hiccup's side.

Just then a Nightmare came over. It wasn't Hookfang, it was one of the dragons that had been bothering him before, one of those who'd been watching for a distance.

Also a male, he was taken aback by the human's sudden revival as well. It creeped him out to stare into those lifeless eyes, but saddened him as well. He could see the agony inside.

Hiccup's lips moved, he attempted to form words, but nothing coherent left. Nothing left at all. And moving, no matter how hard he tried, was still beyond him.

Hushing him, Toothless rumbled reassurances and pressed their noses and then their cheeks together. Hiccup gasped, closing his eyes. At least he knew his dragon was here for him. He couldn't see a thing, but he knew.

It wasn't until Hiccup calmed a little that Toothless could face the Nightmare.

There was a cave not too far away, that is what he told him. A safe cave protected from the wind where the Night Fury and the human could rest.

He helped the Night Fury get him on his back, Hiccup found that his body still didn't listen to him. And he hated it.

His memory was blurry, he could barely see, his thoughts were a frantic and jumbled mess, he was both numb and in pain, he couldn't speak. He wanted to cry out of pure fright and frustration, but nothing happened.

And then Toothless was bringing him to a cave.

He was so confused. He just wanted to be home where he was safe and where everything made sense.

The trip to the cave didn't last for too long, the Nightmare had led them to one that wasn't far from the beach, and having no cold winds assaulting his body already did miracles for the human.

Then the dragons lowered him again. They were careful, but even so his frozen joints protested. Hiccup curled onto his side once he could feel the stone ground beneath him again and Toothless settled around him.

They didn't need a fire, the Night Fury's heat would warm him up slowly.

The Monstrous Nightmare left. Hiccup wasn't sure where he was going, but he took off into the night sky.

He took it upon himself to find their packmates.

Toothless hid him from the world after the kind dragon disappeared from sight. Hiccup still felt bone-chilling against his warm hide, but he didn't dare pull away.

He shivered and Hiccup couldn't lean in as close as he wanted to, but Toothless was there. He felt like he missed him, though he didn't quite know why.

"Ssss-"

"Tss-"

"Hmm... Too-ooth?"

They weren't stutters, Hiccup was straining himself, trying to force his unwilling tongue and lips to form the only word that mattered to him at the moment.

The dragon didn't want him to strain himself, he crooned comfortingly as if telling him to wait, telling him that it was okay. Neither understood what was happening, but time would tell.

Hiccup shook his head, shivering.

"Tooth-less?" Hiccup looked up to him and the other gazed down at him. He moved a hand, settled it on the Night Fury's underjaw.

His Viking's eyes were still so very wrong, but there was little bit of green in them, a little bit of life. They were, quite literally, returning from the dead.

Toothless licked his cheek and Hiccup's face pulled into a grimace. Not out of disgust like he usually would, but out of discomfort. That tongue was too hot for his cold skin. And as his pale complexion regained a bit of colour, he noticed that the Dragon Rider's cheeks showed signs of severe sunburn.

There were other things he could now take note off as well, now that his thoughts were no longer solely focussed on Hiccup's apparent passing.

How Hiccup's shoulder was stuck in one certain awkward position, how the fingers of his right hand remained limp, how his breathing was a wheezy rattling, how he actually looked much thinner than he normally already did.

Gods, he needed to see Gothi. Urgently. He needed a warm bed, he needed food and proper water. He needed home.

But until then...

Toothless wasn't sure what was going on, whether the Viking Gods were behind this miracle or the dragons of old were to be thanked for this gift, but he wasn't about to question Hiccup's return.

He was in pain, he was cold, he was confused and scared, but he was also alive. That is what truly mattered to the Night Fury. So instead of questioning whoever or whatever was behind his Rider's revival or what it meant, Toothless embraced Hiccup with his forelegs and with his wings. And Hiccup, as a result, curled up within the warmth that he craved.

Mericcup Month 2018: Leadership

@witch19

Prompt 3! Hope you guys like it

Disclaimer: I don’t own brave or httyd

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Leadership

Hiccup swung his ignited sword with vigor, sweat dripping down his brow. Toothless was beside him, fighting off several enemy Vikings. The many dragons of the Hooligan Tribe gave a war cry along with their riders as they battled Alvin the Treacherous’s forces.

The battle was violent with no end in sight. Valka led the dragons that followed under Toothless and Astrid, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Fishlegs, and Snotlout were raining fire from the skies.

Hiccup didn’t know how long they could last against Alvin’s forces. The onslaught of enemies seemed endless. Heather’s tribe was already defeated, with those remaining in her tribe fighting alongside the Hairy Hooligans.

“We need more help!” Hiccup exclaimed, blocking an axe. Eret grunted, hindering his own enemy.

“We have no more allies!” he shouted back. Hiccup didn’t want to believe that. He didn’t want to believe in placing his last hope at reaching out to lost ties from Stoick’s days was in vain. He knew that it might have been fruitless. King Fergus and Stoick the Vast were only friends in boyhood—there was a high possibility King Fergus wouldn’t even remember Stoick or feel the need to help his son who was a stranger to Fergus, but it was all he had left, and Hiccup had to take every chance he had in placing his faith in the bond Stoick and Fergus shared as old friends.

However, it seemed those bonds were broken…

An enemy Viking charged at Hiccup, and the young chief readied his blade, refusing to let himself go down like this.

An arrow pierced the man’s jugular before he could reach the Viking chief. Hiccup’s mouth parted in surprise. They didn’t have any archers on their forces…

A rallying cry bellowed in the air and the Hairy Hooligans were shocked to see Scottish ships approaching the shore with Scottish warriors already on land charging to their aid. Hiccup almost laughed in relief, his heart feeling like it was going to burst from joy.

They came. They really came…

“Are ye daft, laddie?! Pay attention or ye gonna get cut down!” a female’s voice with a foreign accent ordered in Norse.

Hiccup turned to see a woman in trousers with a kilt and Scottish men’s attire. Her hair was like wild dragon fire and her eyes burned bright like a blue inferno. It was if Freyja herself appeared to aid them in battle. She pulled to a stop on her horse beside him, shooting another man dead who was going to hurt Hiccup. Her victorious smirk made his heart skip a beat and her onslaught of arrows made him breathless.

“King Fergus is here?!” he finally managed out, fighting off an enemy. Eret brought the hilt of his sword down on an enemy’s head. The woman smirked, and Hiccup felt part of his heart slip away.

“King Fergus is retried, but his daughter, the Queen Merida, is more than happy to help his allies.” She answered. She held a hand out to Hiccup, who took it and she yanked him on her horse. Hiccup couldn’t stop the giddy grin on his face. The Scottish were really helping them. He didn’t fail his tribe after all!

More and more Scottish warriors ran onto land and the woman let out a rallying cry to her fellow warriors who cheered for her.

“Let’s show these Vikings how the Scots fight!” she shouted, urging her horse forward. Hiccup sliced down anyone who tried to charge them with weapons. Toothless followed behind, lighting fire in their wake to anyone who would attack them from behind. Meanwhile, the woman shot down enemies from the air while Hiccup took care of the ones in front of them.

They were an unstoppable force. His Freyja was as fierce and precise with her shots, charging her horse through enemy Vikings and dragons with ease. He was her guard, offering her his strength with everything he had. He didn’t dare look at her too long, for his Freyja would mesmerize him to the point of a stupor if he was careless.

Dagur the Deranged bellowed a war cry, racing towards them in violent madness, eyes alit with the possibility of murdering Hiccup the Dragon Conqueror. Toothless ran behind them, shooting a stream of fire towards the Berserker. However, the warrior dodged, charging towards them with a manic grin. His Freyja grinned, the thrill of a challenge exciting her. She slid from her horse quickly, brandishing a sword and locking blades with the Berserker.  

“Ye take Angus and find Alvin!” His Freyja commanded, parrying with Dagur on equal footing.

“I can’t leave you with him!” Hiccup protested, moving to get off her horse.

She kicked the ground out from Dagur’s feet, and turned to give him a smirk, her eyes sparking with fire that threatened to consume him. Hiccup’s breath hitched as he stared at her in awe.

It was from her look that Hiccup felt the rest of his heart being stolen away.

“I ain’t some maiden, laddie! It will take more than this wee lad to kill me!” she grinned, blocking another blow from the angry Dagur. It was her confidence and display of her skills that made Hiccup have faith in her.

He gave her a smirk, urging Angus forward with Toothless following without her, to search for Alvin and end this war.

----------------

The arrival of the Scottish seemed to have weakened Alvin’s forces, and the enemy Vikings and their dragons were driven back to the delight of the Hooligans and their allies. The Celts and the Vikings cheered, knowing that had put a dent in Alvin’s forces.

Nonetheless, Hiccup knew the war wasn’t over. Alvin was still out there. He had managed to engage him in battle, but the older Viking managed to escape. Hiccup sighed, running a hand through his hair. Toothless nuzzled him, and he gave the dragon a pat on the head to soothe the dragon.

“It’s okay, bud. We did good today.” Hiccup praised his dragon. Toothless gave a purr as Hiccup scratched under his chin.

“Hiccup!” Astrid cried, appearing before him off of Stormfly. Fishlegs, Snotlout, Tuffnut, and Ruffnut followed, running to him. The remaining Hooligan tribesman also gathered around their chief. Valka surveyed her son for damage and sighed in relief when she found no wounds.

“What was that? Why are the Scottish here?” Fishlegs asked the question on everyone’s mind. Hiccup grinned.

“To strengthen bonds.” He answered, wondering if his dad was watching her old friend’s daughter came to the aid of his son like Fergus would have come for Stoick before them. Of course, his tribesmen were confused and didn’t get it.

“Is that some kind of riddle? You know I don’t do riddles man.” Tuff groaned. Ruff whacked his head.

“It’s obviously a code! Maybe the Celts are here for some rewards.” Ruff argued, sure that the Celts would want something for themselves.

“They better not want our dragons.” Snotlout growled. He wouldn’t be giving up Hookfang for anything. There was a murmuring among the tribe, suspicious of their Scottish aid. Hiccup rushed to fix the situation.

“No, no! They’re just here to help! Or at least I hope so…” he muttered the last part. He didn’t really get a written reply—too frantic with sending a messenger to DunBroch with the pleas for help while they were being attacked.

“Why did you write to the Scottish?” Eret asked, crossing his arms, raising a brow. He didn’t think the Vikings and Highlanders were on good terms, but perhaps he was wrong.

“Hiccup, these wouldn’t happen to be Fergus’s forces, would they?” Valka realized, remembering the crest of arms on the sails of the ships. All Hiccup did was respond with a grin. Valka couldn’t keep the smile off her face. “Praise the Gods! Even in death, your father aids us.” She laughed in relief. The rest of the tribe appeared confused. Valka turned to their tribe. “These Scots are allies. Their King and Stoick were boyhood friends.” Valka explained. The tribe registered that and cheered for their late chief. Hiccup looked sheepish.

“Well it’s actually his daughter who sent us aid. Apparently, King Fergus is retired…”

“We should speak to the Queen then.” Astrid said. “King Fergus I understand helping, but it doesn’t make sense for his daughter to help a tribe she doesn’t know.”

Hiccup remembered his Freyja, her hair like dragon fire and eyes like the raging sea. He felt giddy at the prospect of seeing her again and wondered if she was the Queen’s general. He tried to not show his eagerness at the prospect of seeing the object of his adoration, and coughed, clearing his throat.

“I’ve fought with the Queen’s General. She’ll welcome us.” Hiccup explained. It was decided Hiccup, Astrid, and Valka would go to meet the Scots. It didn’t take long for them to be found. The Celts were making camp, nursing their soldiers who were injured in the battle. Some gave greetings in Gaelic, and Hiccup translated for Astrid.

Soon they arrived at the war tent where the General would be. Guards were stationed at the tent, but moved aside when they saw them approach, recognizing his chief’s cloak. Hiccup nodded in thanks, entering with Valka and Astrid.

“Don’t be daft, Macintosh! We need to nurse our soldiers before leading a full assault.” His Freyja was talking in Gaelic to a handsome Celt with flowing black hair. The man snorted.

“We’ve managed to drive back Alvin’s forces. We should crush them while they’re weak.” Macintosh argued. His Freyja wasn’t amused.

“Aye, and leave without the Hooligan tribe? They need our medical attention as well. We need all of our forces if we’re going to attack. I’ve fought his right-hand man, Dagur, and he managed to evade being sliced by my blade. Alvin the Treacherous is a higher caliber.” The redhaired general countered.

“I agree. My clan has had many casualties. I would like them to be nursed before heading into another battle.” A large man spoke, his Scottish accent heavy.

“…What were we discussing again?” a shorter man with a spacy expression asked.

“Argh pay attention Dingwall! It’s a miracle yer still alive…” Macintosh muttered, flipping some of his hair out of his face revealing blue Celtic paint. The larger Scot shook his head at the shorter man, Dingwall. His Freyja gave them all an amused expression.

“Well MacGuffin agrees with me and Dingwall is his usual self, so it looks like we’re staying here for the moment.” She said. Macintosh grumbled, but you could see a fond glint in his eyes when he looked at his Freyja.

Hiccup coughed, and the four turned to him in surprise as they just realized he was there. The female general grinned approaching them with her fellow generals behind her, surveying the Vikings suspiciously around their leader.

“Ah, Hiccup the Dragon Conqueror! It’s such a pleasure to speak to ye outside of battle.” She said in Norse, grasping his offered arm as he gripped hers in solidarity. He wished he wasn’t wearing long sleeves, so he could feel her fingers against his skin. Hiccup tried to contain the blush that erupted at the thought of them touching skin to skin, halting that train of thought before it could turn indecent.

“Pssh I bet I could conquer dragons too…” Macintosh muttered in Gaelic, and MacGuffin whacked him. “Ow!”

“Don’t mind them. My generals are idiots but they’re also very competent when they are needed.” She spoke, humor dancing in her eyes as she let go of Hiccup’s arm. Hiccup nodded with a grin, being reminded of Snotlout, Ruff, and Tuff.

“Don’t worry, General. I have my own knuckleheads to deal with.” Hiccup assured her with a grin. His Freyja laughed, and Hiccup’s heart skipped a beat.

“Yer speaking to her majesty the Queen Merida, laddie!” Macintosh scolded him. Hiccup’s eyes widened in shock. His Freyja was Queen Merida?!

“Pardon me, Your Majesty, but aren’t queens in the south not supposed to fight in battle?” Valka asked, curious. She had heard the Highlanders had different customs for their women from Stoick back when they were first married, and he was retelling his summers with Fergus in his boyhood. The Queen’s generals looked offended, like Valka had said their queen was strange, but Merida barked out a laugh, waving it off.

“Oh don’t give them looks, lads! Ye know I am a strange one!” Merida’s eyes sparkled with mischief. “Aye, usually queens don’t do battle, but I am my father’s daughter and I believe if I’m gonna rule I should fight for my home and allies despite my mother’s wishes I didn’t.” Merida explained. She gestured to her outfit. “Hence why I dress like a man—it’s a little hard to do battle in a fancy dress, I’m afraid. Trust me.”

“I’m sorry, but why exactly are you here, Your Majesty?” Astrid asked, observing her.

“Not that we aren’t grateful for your help!” Hiccup rushed to add, not wanting to offend their possible allies, giving Astrid a look. She glared at him, jutting out her chin in defiance.

“My father and yer father would good friends when they were young, Hiccup Haddock. My Da would tell me and my brothers stories of their youth all the time when we were young. As I grew older, I heard tales of Stoick the Vast and his conquests. Even when they lost touch, my Da always tried to keep up news on how he was. I couldn’t in good conscious leave his good friend’s son to die when ye sent me a messenger.” Merida explained.

Valka felt herself feel warm. She had no idea that Fergus had missed Stoick that much that he had kept up with news about him and would tell his children his victories. She felt intense gratitude for Fergus for inspiring his daughter to aid them in times of need.

“Now if ye don’t mind, I need to talk to yer chief.” Queen Merida told them. She turned to her generals. “That will be all, laddies! We’ll resume in an hour. Please check on how yer clans are doing.”

“But Yer Majesty—” MacGuffin started to protest, wary of the Vikings, but Merida waved him off.

“He is Stoick the Vast’s son. My Da always told me of Stoick’s honor and no doubt his son will be the same.” Merida told them. Her generals bowed and departed. Hiccup nodded to Valka and Astrid that he was fine, and they left reluctantly.

Hiccup was alone with Merida now. She zeroed her intense gaze on him and Hiccup’s heart beat quickened.

“Sorry about my men. They’re overprotective at times. We’ve known each other since we were fifteen.” Merida explained.

“It’s all right. I’m sorry about Astrid and my mother. Times are…” Hiccup searched for the right words to say. Merida nodded.

“I understand. It’s very hard for yer tribe right now.” Merida walked over to sip some water. She offered Hiccup some. “I’m sorry it’s not wine. I don’t like to indulge in the field.” Merida added. Hiccup shook his head.

“I don’t really feel in the mood for wine anyway.” Hiccup sipped some water. The queen then looked bashful.

“To tell ye the truth, my Da’s stories are not the only reason I came to help ye.” She admitted.

“Oh?” Hiccup was curious. Her shyness was very endearing—different from her fierce passion, but all it did was present her as more complex than one-dimensional. He wanted to know more about this queen. He wanted to know what made her tick and what made her vulnerable. He wanted to know what she liked and what she was passionate about. His curiosity burned to know more of this incarnation of the goddess of war.

“As I grew up, I always heard tales of Stoick the Vast. It always made me eager for more. However, I was fifteen after escaping an arranged marriage when I heard the tale of his son, Hiccup, defeating the Red Death.”

“Wait—wha?” Hiccup spluttered, coughing on his water a bit. There were stories about him even back then? Merida nodded.

“Aye. It wasn’t long before I began hearing more and more tales of ye. Of yer courage and compassion—it inspired me.” Merida blushed prettily, her eyes sparkling in excitement at recalling all of the adventures she’s heard of. “I was in awe. Ye were my age but ye’ve already made yerself into a great leader. I began taking a more progressive route in becoming queen and fought for my reign from freedom of marriage.” The queen confessed. “My Ma didn’t think it best. It was always tradition for a King and Queen to rule together. I do intend to marry eventually, but they will be my partner. They will not rule for me—they will rule with me. I began studying military tactics and politics to rule on my own because if ye can rise up from being a village screw up to one of the best leaders of this century, I could certainly strive to rule independently and become a great leader for my nation on my own too.” Merida finished.

Hiccup’s eyes were wide. He had no idea he had caused such a change within someone. It made him feel humbled. He wondered if Merida felt the same admiration for him as he felt for her and her ability to lead her own men into battle. She was fearless and passionate. He wanted to drown in her passion. He swallowed.

“Are you disappointed?” he couldn’t help but ask, afraid that he had somehow failed her expectations. Merida gave him a smile, eyes carrying a glint of adoration Hiccup knew that were in his own eyes for her.

Merida stepped closer, taking his hand. He noticed how perfect their hands were together. Hiccup resisted the urge to intertwine their fingers.

“Ye definitely made an impression on me.” She smirked slyly. Hiccup blushed.

“Good or bad?” he rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand. Merida’s eyes shined tenderly.

“Let’s just say after this war is over, I would consider ruling beside a King now if he was like ye.” She laughed. Hiccup’s heart swelled and his face split into a goofy grin while he intertwined their fingers together.

“I’ll definitely keep that in mind, Your Majesty.”

Blind Spots Ch. 18: ...If You Would Fight For Me

A/N: It's been a bit since the previous update, but now I finally returned to give you the thrilling conclusion of last time's cliffhanger! I hope you enjoy it! Next chapter will be the long-awaited wedding!

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"Got the water! Now let me tell you all about Snotlout!" Ruffnut shouted as she ran back into the clearing. Her giddy mood disappeared however, when she saw it was empty.

"Astrid? Are you there?" she asked loudly, looking around. No trace of her. Her weapons and shield were gone, and so was her pack. Very odd. As uptight and lonesome Astrid could be, just vanishing like that was not like her.

Walking around the edge of the clearing, Ruffnut noticed one of the trees had a few gashes in it, like Astrid had been using it to practice axe throwing. So she had stayed for at least a bit after Ruffnut left. She turned around again when something in the grass caught her eye.

There were a few red dots, leading to the bushes near her bag. A quick rub confirmed it was blood, and Ruffnut frowned. Odd. Had Astrid cut herself while throwing and run back to Berk? Why would she take all her things then? And run in that direction? It was away from Berk, towards the rocky beaches.

Maybe she was overthinking this. Astrid had been crazy about the dumb Hiccup fight. She probably had some weird love revelation while training, and couldn't wait to tell her boyfriend all about it. Probably while kissing him silly and holding his hand and sitting in his lap and being all sweet and cute and ugh!

Ruffnut was not in the mood to see that. Especially after Astrid had apparently just abandoned her. Sure, they had never been close as such, but they were the only two girls of their age, so they had often overlooked each others flaws to allow them to talk about things the boys wouldn't understand.

And for that bond to be thrown out like garbage because of a boy? Ruffnut wasn't happy. Dammit, she had let Astrid rant and complain and rant some more about Hiccup for hours, and the moment she got to talk about Snotlout, the freaking girl runs off!

Ruffnut kicked the gashed tree and suppressed the urge to scream at the betrayal, before picking up her things. Well, if Astrid was off snogging Hiccup and having a wonderful time, she'd get a nice bath in the hot springs.

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When Astrid woke up, her first thought was that she must be in Helheim, the realm of sickness and dishonorable death.

Actually, that was her second thought. Her first thought was "Everything hurts and feels like death," leading to the second thought.

She felt like Jörmungandr himself had swallowed her and spit her out, giving her a nice dose of venom in the meantime. It was worse than that time she had eel pox. Even worse than the morning after her birthday, when she had drunk so much she passed out. Her head was pounding, her limbs felt like they were pressed to the ground, that was how heavy they were, and her stomach churned wildly, burning and pulsating. Her ears hurt, and her balance felt off. The room seemed to rock and rotate around her, though when she opened her eyes it was still. Her left arm was completely numb.

Astrid took a breath, and immediately coughed from the dust entering her mouth. She was lying on her stomach on a very dirty wooden floor. How had she gotten here? Her thoughts were muddy and slow. It was like she was sleepy, but she wasn't.

When the room moved again she realized this wasn't just her head spinning. The wood creaked, and she recognized that sound from somewhere, though her thoughts were too slow to figure it out.

As she breathed in more of the dusty air, she suddenly smelled human waste, coming from somewhere nearby. That, combined with another sudden shift of the floor and the churning of her stomach, pushed her over the edge.

Astrid only barely had the strength to pull herself up to her hands and knees before vomiting. The contents of her stomach splattered over the wooden planks, staining her hands when the room moved again. She groaned, tears springing to her eyes. She didn't even have the strength to wipe them off. Instead, her vision became blurry. When she finally spat out the last of the vile puke, her numb arm gave out. She fell to her side, only barely avoiding the puddle.

A wave of exhaustion swept over her. She wanted to sleep again, but she couldn't. This wasn't right. She wasn't just sick, she was… somewhere. Somewhere wrong. She had to figure it out.

Gathering her strength, she looked up, away from the stained floor to look at the walls. More plain wood, though when she turned her head to the left she saw iron bars. Was she in a prison? A moving prison?

She looked down again, and noticed an odd thing. The pool of vomit kept sliding closer to her, then back away again, and the realization came slowly.

The room was rocking back and forth. A ship. She was on a ship. But whose ship? Why? When? Astrid tried desperately to remember what had happened. She remembered… a portrait? Something with Hiccup. And Ruffnut?

"Look at this. The great Dragon Conqueror, laid low by my hand!" a man shouted. Astrid whipped her head up before grunting in pain from the sudden motion.

"W-W-What?" was all she managed to say, squinting her eyes to try and focus on the large figure on the other side of the bars.

"Strong stuff, isn't it? It's from the far south, extracted from a rare dragon. Just a drop is enough to knock out a Monstrous Nightmare for an hour. You… Well, let's just say you got more than a single drop," the man said, taking out a dagger and holding it through the bars to let her take a look. She lunged, cursing when she found her left arm still numb and collapsing under her weight. Her right hand grazed the handle of the weapon, but the strange man quickly withdrew it. It clanged loudly against the iron bars, a few drops of the blue poison falling on the floor.

"Feisty, aren't ya? But yeah, I don't think you're gonna use that arm for a couple hours… or days maybe. I'm not sure, never used it on humans before," the bastard chuckled, pointing at her arm. She looked down at it for the first time since waking up, involuntarily gasping when she saw her vest stained with blood. There was a large cut right below her armpit. Bile boiled in her stomach again when she saw it was swollen and purple.

It was finally coming back to her. Talking to Ruffnut, training on her own, and then suddenly this man had appeared. He had thrown that knife. She remembered pain and burning in her arm… and then nothing.

"Who are you?" she managed to ask after a few seconds.

"I'm Alvin the Treacherous! I'm sure Stoick told you all about me!" the man said, sheathing his dagger and straightening his back. Astrid moved to sit up against the wall.

Her blank stare clearly wasn't what he had been hoping for.

"I'm his mortal enemy? True heir to Berk and the entire archipelago? Exiled from Berk for countless crimes?" Alvin said, his voice becoming more and more desperate when she just shook her head. Honestly she mostly shook to get rid of the dizziness, but if she could piss off this bastard, bonus.

"I have no idea," she said slowly, feeling exhausted. Astrid was not in the mood to entertain delusional morons.

"Stoick never talked about me?" he said, eyes wide. When she shook her head, he scoffed. "Well, I'm his rival he exiled for trying to take over Berk. That was twenty years ago, but I haven't forgotten. And now you, the Dragon Conqueror, will help me get my revenge. I have captured quite the collection of dragons, and you will train them for me," Alvin chuckled, and Astrid shook her head again.

"But… But I'm not the Dragon Conqueror, Hic-" she said before stopping herself abruptly. She couldn't put Hiccup in danger. If this Alvin wanted a Dragon Conqueror, she wouldn't let him take her love.

"Hiccup? Stoick's pathetic blind kid? I know you're all lying about him being this great hero. I saw him today. He couldn't conquer a rabbit. No, it's all a desperate attempt from Stoick to give his son legitimacy as ruler. He's still afraid I'm coming to usurp his throne. And he's right. Berk deserves better than that weakling-" Alvin laughed before jumping back with a yelp when Astrid lunged at him, almost grabbing his beard through the bars.

"Ooh, touched a nerve there? Of course, when I take over Berk, you won't become the power behind the throne like you'd hoped. But at least you won't have to whore yourself out to that… hehe, hiccup anymore," taking another step back when Astrid threw herself at the bars with a scream. She was not gonna let anyone talk about Hiccup like that. No matter how sick or tired she was, she'd never stop fighting.

"Aww, don't tell me you actually care for the boy. We'll get rid of that soon enough. You won't have time or energy for pining on Outcast Island. Because I promise you, you will never see your precious Hiccup ever again," Alvin said, brandishing his dagger once more before turning around and leaving. "You, stand guard. Don't let her leave that cell," he said as he climbed the stairs, and a man with a wild dark beard descended to stand in front of her cell.

Astrid growled and pushed at the bars for another minute, but when the guard just chuckled, she gave up and sat back against the wall again. Why was this happening? She couldn't believe it. Just this morning everything was fine. And then she and Hiccup fought over something so stupid, and now she was…

Oh no. Oh gods no. Please no!

What if Alvin was right? What if she could never talk to Hiccup again? Their last words, her last words… insults and curses. She couldn't let that be how Hiccup remembers her. He had to know she hadn't meant it. Any of it. She just wanted him to be strong. To be the man she knew he was.

She had just been so hasty. Why hadn't she given him more time? He was improving, so so much. It wouldn't be like their lives would stop and become static the moment they'd get married. It would only be the start. The start of a new journey, a new story.

If they could even get married now.

Astrid shuddered, covering her face with her hands, and she could feel tears appear.

No. She was not going to sit here and cry and do nothing. She was going to fight and get back to Berk, get back to her Hiccup. They would get married and live in their own house and have children and do all the things that just yesterday had seemed terrifying, but that Astrid suddenly realized she wanted more than anything in the world.

She was going to fight for them, dammit. It didn't matter anymore if Hiccup could fight off enemies, she'd fight for both of them. For their life together.

She moved to stand, but her arm buckled when she tried to push herself up. Damn paralysis. Damn exhaustion. Damn sickness. But it would pass. She'd bide her time. She would rest for a few hours at least, observe the guard and figure out a plan to escape.

They wanted a conqueror? They'd get a conqueror.

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"Chin up, chest forward, shoulders back," Hiccup was still softly chanting to himself when he reached his home. It had taken him a while to get back to a place he recognized, and from there to his house. Toothless warbled loudly when he saw him, interrupting his games with Stormfly and Cloudjumper to run over.

The dragon warbled sadly, clearly seeing Hiccup was upset. It made the boy smile, despite what had just happened. Toothless warbled something that sounded like "Astrid?" and Hiccup shook his head.

"She's not coming over today, bud. I screwed up, I think. I don't know, it's all so confusing," he said, before letting go of his dragon's head and walking to the front door.

"Mom? Dad?" he called into the house to no answer. They must still be at the Great Hall. Hiccup was hoping to ask them for advice, but right now he didn't feel like going out into public again. So he sat at the table as the dragons moved into the house, Stormfly squawking repeatedly.

"Astrid is fine, Stormfly. She just… wanted to be away from me for a bit," he said, before grabbing the nearby pile of blank paper and starting a letter to Camicazi. Maybe she'd know what to do. He put a thin wooden grid over the paper, and wrote one letter through each rectangular hole in the grid. It was a new method he was experimenting with, to write without overlapping letters accidentally. Still, it went very slowly as he carefully drew each rune, making sure he didn't mess it up.

Just as he was finishing up the letter explaining his situation to Cami, the door opened. Hiccup recognized his parents' footprints, light and happy today. Cloudjumper ran outside, but Stormfly and Toothless didn't move from their spot near the firepit.

"Hey son! Astrid isn't here? I saw you two leave together, I figured I wouldn't see you anymore today!" Stoick said, obviously cheerful. 'Happy with the perfect painting', Hiccup couldn't help but think.

"No, we… we had a fight," he said, signing his name at the bottom of the letter in what was surely an unintelligible scrawl. He'd send it when Fishlegs came back from his trip.

"Oh, what about? Let me guess, she wanted the painting for herself! It's amazing, I wish you could see it!" Stoick said, and Hiccup sighed. He wanted to take a stand, to demand a better portrait like Astrid expected him to. But without her with him, with the dark cloud of their argument still hanging over him, he couldn't muster the courage to do it.

"No, she… it's complicated. She wants me to be more… yeah, more," he eventually said, sealing the letter.

"Well, I think if you want to be more, you'll need the energy! Let's go to the Great Hall and get dinner! Kirsten is making a huge meal to celebrate the painting. I think she's trying to do a trial run for your wedding as well, though," Valka laughed as she grabbed Hiccup's shoulder, trying to pull him up from the chair. He flinched. Didn't they get that he didn't want food or cheer?

When his mother came back, Hiccup hadn't expected it to change everything so much. Now it seemed that they were just happy all the time, and had no eyes for anything else.

Not even their son, he thought bitterly. Hiccup wanted to be happy for them. Hell, he was happy his mother was back. But it was still confusing.

"Fine," he said through gritted teeth, more frustrated than ever.

They walked silently to the Great Hall. Well, Hiccup was silent at least, following his parents who were talking and giggling animatedly. Normally they weren't so bad. Or maybe normally he just noticed it less because he'd be focused on Astrid walking next to him. "Chin up, chest forward, shoulders back," Hiccup kept muttering to himself.

Behind him the dragons were following slowly, playing and chasing each other all the way. Toothless had eagerly welcomed Cloudjumper into their home, and Stormfly was always happy to meet new friends.

Finally, after a slow climb up the stairs they entered the Hall again, where they were greeted by Astrid's parents.

"Hey there, Stoick, didn't you just leave? Back already for more food? Ah, you brought Hiccup, he can always use another bite, right?" Kirsten said as she guided them to a table. "Oh, where is Astrid?" she asked Hiccup as she grabbed his shoulder to sit him down, and he nearly lashed out. Instead he took a deep breath.

"I don't know. She went into the woods a few hours ago," he said, grabbing his cup of mead and taking a deep gulp.

"Ah, avoiding me, I suppose. Maybe I've been a little harsh on her lately. But there's just so much I still have to teach her! That girl can wield any weapon in the world, but give her a sewing needle and she is defeated!" Kirsten laughed, and Valka laughed with her.

"I did the same before I married Stoick! I just couldn't figure out how to use them! I pricked myself so often my mother said I should just sell everything I made as red cloth from all the blood!" Hiccup's mother shouted, and Stoick laughed as well.

Hiccup tuned out the banter, his thoughts wandering back to the fight. Toothless crooned, nudging him, but he pushed the dragon away.

"Jeez, you people are still partying? Not that I don't like a party, but I hoped that with my bro and the other boys away, I could get some peace and quiet!" Ruffnut shouted, pulling Hiccup from his thoughts.

"Hey, where is Astrid? How come she isn't all over your face?" the twin asked, stopping right next to Hiccup.

"I don't know, okay?! Why does everyone think she should be with me every second of the day!" he shouted, cringing when the hall fell silent.

"Jeez, you don't have to be so insulted. Just admit you two are inseparable normally. Hell, even this dumb portrait couldn't keep you apart. Astrid ran off a while ago to meet you and make up!" Ruffnut said, sitting down next to him and stealing his mead.

Hiccup frowned, anger flowing away, replaced by confusion.

"Wait, what? I haven't seen her since this morning! We had a fight and she ran off," he said, sensing Ruffnut shrug.

"I know that! She was ranting about it to me, we were training together. I told her she shouldn't take it all so seriously, and she calmed down a bit. But then I left her for a minute to refill my water skin, and when I came back she was gone. I figured she had run off to you to make up," Ruffnut said, taking another sip of mead.

"No… she didn't go to me. Were there any other weird things?" Hiccup asked, his stomach becoming heavy.

Depends on what you'd call weird. I thought it was weird she left without saying anything. All her weapons were gone as well. Oh, and there was some blood on the grass. I figured she had cut herself throwing axes," Ruff said. Stormfly lied down next to him, squawking sadly, and Hiccup wondered if she was feeling the same dread. He didn't like this at all.

"So she disappeared a few hours ago, left bloodstains, and now no one knows where she is?" Hiccup said, voice rising.

"Son, I'm sure it's fine. She probably wanted to be alone for a bit," Stoick said, finally taking his attention off Valka for a second.

"I don't like it. I don't trust it! Something is wrong, I can feel it! What if she's badly hurt?!" he shouted, standing up and grabbing his cane.

"Okay, we can send out a search party into the forest. If she's there, we'll find her," Stoick said, standing up too.

"I'll lead the men. If anyone can survive in there it's my girl, but if she hasn't come back… She probably just broke her ankle, something like that. She's tough," Tolfdir said, standing up and grabbing his sword. It made a grating sound as he put it in its scabbard, and then his footsteps were running out the door and down the steps.

"See Hiccup, Tolfdir will find her in no time," Stoick said, but Hiccup wasn't reassured. He walked away, shaking his head. The adults started whispering among themselves, and Toothless warbled next to him.

Suddenly Hiccup's cane hit something metal, and he realized he was next to the painted shield. The portrait that had caused the fight.

The shield that portrayed a Hiccup as different from him as could be.

Stormfly made a loud croon as he ran his hand over it and wondered what it looked like. Strong and tall and with eyes, Astrid had said, but it was hard to imagine.

"Hiccup... Look, if Astrid is in some kind of trouble, she or Tolfdir or Stoick can surely fix it! You're not… Just don't worry, she'll be back in no time!" Valka suddenly said from next him, and he jumped a bit. He frowned, feeling like she was patronizing, though he knew she just wanted to reassure him.

But it still felt like she was saying he was too weak to help her. Not able to save her. He ran his hand over the portrait again.

The portrait of a Hiccup Astrid said he had been once.

A Hiccup she might need.

A Hiccup… he could be again?

"No. No, I'm gonna find her! I'll fly on Toothless… Stormfly can track her! Come on, Stormfly!" he shouted, the Nadder jumping up towards him.

"Hiccup, at least wait until the other riders are back from their trip! I don't think… You shouldn't be out there alone-!" Stoick said, and Hiccup whipped around, raising his cane to point to where he thought his father was. It wasn't until his dad suddenly shut up that he realized he was standing tall and straight without even having to think about it.

"Astrid shouldn't be out there alone either, but she is! And the riders won't be back for another two days! Who knows what could happen to her in that time," he said, climbing on Toothless' saddle and fitting his prosthetic into the pedal.

For a few seconds Hiccup was sure his dad would protest again, but all he said was "You're right, son. Find her."

The boy didn't waste any time. Stormfly was already out the door, flying towards the forest, and Toothless was right behind.

Astrid was strong, so much stronger than him. But together they could do anything. Hiccup was sure of it. No matter what had happened to her, he'd find her and they'd find a way back home together.

Who cared what the stupid portrait showed? What was important was what Astrid saw in him, and for some crazy reason Hiccup couldn't comprehend she saw something to believe in.

And he believed in Astrid. That was all the motivation he needed.

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Astrid groaned as feeling returned to her left arm, in the form of massive tingling. She wasn't sure if this was better than the numbness of before, but at least she could move it now. Honestly she didn't trust it to swing a weapon, but thankfully it was just her left arm.

The guard outside her cell paced back and forth, often groaning and moaning. He seemed to handle seasickness about as well as she did. When he wasn't looking, Astrid had checked under her skirt, making sure they hadn't touched her there. And finding a tiny dagger, little bigger than a cheese knife, sewn into the inside of the skirt, just where she left it.

Astrid remembered laughing when her mother suggested the secret weapon. She already had two daggers, in her sleeve and boot, what more could she need? But now she was glad she had the weapon. Now just to find a way out of the cell.

After she glared at him a few times, the guard had put the keys on a hook on the other side of the hallway, well out of her reach.

He had just run into a side room, out of sight, though the sounds of him emptying his stomach still echoed through the hold. Grimacing, she took the opportunity to rub her knife on the drops of poison Alvin had left earlier. The sight of the blue potion, the sounds of the sick guard, the movement of the ship, and the smell of her own vomit and the bucket in the corner made her stomach churn, but she suppressed it. She couldn't let it overwhelm her again.

A minute later the guard was done dealing with his seasickness, but he didn't immediately walk out of the storage room. Instead he was humming curiously, and Astrid moved a little closer to the bars.

"Ooh, nice shield! Light as well! I wonder if Alvin will notice if I take it…" the guard mumbled before appearing with her Gronckle Iron shield, and she saw an opportunity to get the key.

"Is this yours?" he asked, walking to the bars and holding out the shiny shield. Astrid moved her numb hand under her, grabbing the knife in her fist while being careful not to touch the poison, and tried to look tired and worn out.

Honestly that wasn't hard.

"What?" she slurred, squinting her eyes and crawling closer. The guard kneeled a bit to put the shield at her eye level, and she sat on her haunches on the other side.

"Oh… Oh yeah… There are hidden weapons in here. Look, if you press the button on the bottom here, it'll reveal it," she said slowly, trying to appear drugged and barely aware. The guard took his eyes off her, and instead moved his head down to look for the button, while his hands moved around the shield.

For a moment, Astrid hesitated. She only had one shot at this. Could she do it? Attack this person?

But then Hiccup flashed through her mind and her resolve hardened. Jumping up with practiced speed, she reached through the bars. His eyes widened in surprise when she grabbed the man's head with her right hand while stabbing his exposed shoulder with the knife in her tingling left hand. Turning his head around so it faced away from her, she slammed it against the bars before clamping her hand over his mouth.

He struggled. His mouth produced muffled screams and tried to bite her, and his arms reached up to dislodge her, but she stabbed him once more with the poisoned knife. When he tried to jump up, she slammed his head against the bars again.

A minute later he went still. Astrid suddenly realized she was breathing hard. Slowly she released him, terrified he'd scream again.

He just slumped against the bars. He was still breathing, just knocked out, like she had been.

Her hands were shaking, and the knife fell to the floor with a thump. Astrid held her breath as she listened carefully, but no one came to investigate the noise. Her eyes fell on the knife. She could slit his throat. It'd be so easy.

But she looked at the man again. Was he just following orders? He hadn't hurt her. He was seasick, just like she had been. Would Hiccup kill him?

No, he wouldn't. He'd urge her to get out of there. She didn't have much time. Surely they'd check on her soon. Pushing the man to the side, she grabbed the shield through the bars and awkwardly turned it around so it faced the hook with the key.

Aiming was hard like this, especially with her hurt arm. The first shot from the grappling hook missed, hitting the wall next to the key with a bang that made her cringe. Thankfully a big wave hit the ship at the same time, making the hull creak loudly.

Astrid quickly pulled the grappling hook and rope back, reloading the launcher and taking aim again.

This time it hit the key, which fell to the ground with a happy chime. Another shot entangled the key in the hook, and she carefully pulled it back, suppressing a nervous giggle when she touched it.

"Okay, time to get out," she whispered, awkwardly unlocking the door from the inside and pushing the guard a little further away to allow it to open. Checking one more time to see if he was still unconscious, Astrid walked out and strapped her shield to her left arm. It might be numb and tingling, but it could lift and block, and that was all she needed.

Silently she walked into the side room and found her axe and daggers there. Quickly putting the daggers back where they belonged, she grabbed her axe and swung it a few times. Perfect.

"Get ready, Alvin," she whispered, looking around the hold of the ship for a way out. Just the ladder leading up to the deck. Astrid could hear shouts and orders through the planks above her. How many men were there? A dozen? More? But she had to escape now. If they made it to Outcast Island, there'd be dozens if not hundreds of enemies.

As quietly as she could she climbed the ladder and pushed the trapdoor up just a notch, glancing through the small gap.

It was evening, the last rays of the setting sun drawing long shadows from the men at the front of the ship. There were three of them, and when she looked to her sides she spotted another four. All were looking away, focused on their ropes and oars.

Holding her breath she lifted the planks up a tiny bit more so she could look behind her. There, on the rear deck, was that bastard Alvin. He was flanked by a strange man wielding what looked like a large bone. Another man was sitting nearby, rubbing a bandaged and splinted arm. Astrid recognized him with a flash. She had broken that arm. For a second she felt guilt, but then she remembered Hiccup and the only thing left was determination.

As far as she could tell, Astrid only had two ways out: One was to steal a rowboat and sail back to Berk without them noticing. Unlikely to work for more reasons than she could count.

The other was to get to Alvin and make him bring her back. It wouldn't be easy. There were eight other men, not counting the wounded one. She'd have the element of surprise on them, but still…

No. She couldn't doubt now. She had trained her entire life for this. She had to do this. For Hiccup, and for herself.

Astrid took a deep breath, and was about to jump out when one of the men shouted and pointed at the sky. Astrid quickly dropped the hatch, before lifting it again when she heard footsteps running to the side.

Nearly all of the men were at the port side now, pointing at something she couldn't see and preparing the catapult.

"Take it down!" Alvin shouted, running towards the front of the deck, and Astrid knew she'd never get a better opportunity. She jumped up and ran towards the enormous man, raising her axe. He turned around just as she grabbed him and put her axe to his throat.

"No one move! You move, your boss gets it!" she shouted, mind racing. Alvin chuckled, and she pressed the axe tighter to his throat. The men froze, clearly unsure of what to do. The closest one was only a few feet away, and Astrid staggered back a bit, dragging Alvin with her to the tip of the ship.

"Throw your weapons overboard, and then turn this ship around. We're going back to Berk," she said, trying not to show her fear.

Alvin laughed again, but before she could tell him to shut up, something fell from the sky. The men screamed and scattered, and Astrid nearly dropped her axe when she recognized the black dragon.

"Hiccup? What are you-" she started to ask, but just then Alvin jumped back, throwing her off.

Some fighters say that in the heat of battle everything slows down, that sound becomes muffled and you can see every move your opponent makes.

Astrid realized now that that was yakshit.

Grunting, she barely managed to raise her shield in time to block a slam from Alvin's sword, taking a step back trying to create distance between them so she could swing her axe.

"Astrid!" she could hear Hiccup somewhere, but in that moment all she could focus on was Alvin, managing to block another strike. She took another step back, but lost her balance when her back hit the railing.

A quick look over her shoulder was her downfall, as she didn't see Alvin slam her hand with the pommel of his blade. With a cry of pain, she dropped the axe.

"Astrid! Let her go!" Hiccup shouted, his footsteps and cane coming closer, but Astrid couldn't see him. A strong arm pushed her around and wrapped around her chest, pushing her back against Alvin's front.

Astrid tried to kick and stomp, but froze when she felt his sword against her throat. Their positions were reversed now. Astrid closed her eyes for a moment, forcing herself to calm.

Not easy when she could feel a trickle of blood run down her neck.

"Stop right there! Hiccup, wasn't it?" Alvin said clearly, and Astrid now saw Hiccup standing next to Toothless in the middle of the deck. The henchmen were scattered around the deck, weapons raised. Hiccup's face was unreadable from this distance, and she wished she could hold his hand. It was such a silly thought in that moment. She had a sword to her throat, and she wanted to hold her boyfriend's hand?

"Who are you? Let Astrid go right now!" Hiccup shouted as he moved towards them, cane rapidly tapping the deck. There was fire in his words, and Astrid found she was holding her breath.

"You're blind, aren't you? Well then, let me paint you a picture of the situation here. I am holding a sword to your conqueror's neck. One more step, and I will slit her throat," Alvin said, and Hiccup froze as if struck, metal foot hovering in mid-air. After a second or two, he slowly put it back down, raising his free hand in a clear conciliatory gesture. Toothless growled, but Hiccup whispered something to calm him down.

"Good. I'm in control here. Remember that. Now, I am Alvin the Treacherous. I am sure your father told you all about me," Alvin said, pushing Astrid's arms between them when she struggled again.

"Uh… No?" Hiccup said. The henchmen grouped up around them, looking at Alvin for instructions.

"Oh come on! You too? Is Stoick so scared of me he doesn't even dare speak my name?!" Alvin shouted and lifted his blade higher. Astrid couldn't help but squeal when another drop of blood spilled on his sword. Hiccup flinched at the sound.

"Yes, t-that's definitely it! I am c-certainly t-terrified, and I'm sure my dad is as well!" he stuttered, raising his hands up further.

"And you should be. Now, I'm gonna be nice here. I could kill you right now, but I'm feeling merciful. You're gonna run back to your daddy and tell him Alvin is coming with an army of dragons, trained by the Dragon Conqueror herself! He can surrender, and his life will be spared," Alvin said, and even from this far away Astrid could see Hiccup frown. She knew his face, even beneath the blindfold, and she could tell he was thinking quickly.

"But… No, I'm the Dragon Conqueror. I trained the Night Fury, and all the other dragons. You want me. I'll take Astrid's place. Just… Just let her go," he said after a short silence.

"No! Hiccup, don't!" Astrid shouted, but Hiccup shook his head.

"I can't let him hurt you!" he simply said, lowering his arms and slumping, looking defeated and small. Astrid wanted to scream, to tell him to stand straight and fight, dammit! But before she could, Alvin punched her in the gut.

"In Thor's name… You really are the Conqueror, aren't you? And it would shame Stoick to have his son surrender to the enemy. Though it's probably just another disappointment on the end of a long list. How about that Night Fury? Will he follow you? Will you make him obey me?" Alvin asked, and Hiccup nodded rapidly.

"Yeah, Toothless does what I want him to! Just let Astrid go and I'll serve you forever… my lord!" Hiccup said, doing a sort of short bow, and Astrid frowned. Hiccup could be a nervous wreck, but he was never this… subservient.

Alvin grinned. "Fine. She can get the dingy, and if she makes it to Berk she can tell Stoick all about his son's shame. I'm feeling generous, so I'll give you two a moment to say goodbye," he said, before lowering his sword.

Astrid didn't waste any time running away from the horrid man. Hiccup had the same idea, running towards her and grabbing her hand.

"I'm sorry, Astrid. I'm sorry that this happened. But I want you to know I love you. I love you so much, and I'll never forget you!" he rambled, and Astrid was so confused she just wanted to punch him. How could he give up like this?

But then she noticed his thumb moving over the back of her hand, signing. Hiccup kept proclaiming his love and apologizing over and over again, but silently he was telling her a completely different message.

Stormfly-S-K-Y-Go to-Toothless-Meet up with me-Combat Training

It was a confusing use of their every day messages, but she quickly understood what he was trying to say.

"You and me, together against the world," she whispered, moving to pull him into a kiss, but before they could connect a henchman pulled her away.

"That's enough. Come here, Hiccup the Useless. I want to see you kneel," Alvin said. Two of the other men threw a net over Toothless, who looked furious but didn't attack.

"Of… Of course, my lord," Hiccup said, awkwardly feeling the deck with his cane as he slowly moved towards Alvin. The big man chuckled, and then laughed as Hiccup kneeled before him. Only Astrid noticed Hiccup moving into a combat stance as he stood up, his thumb moving over the small button on the cane.

"Oh, if only Stoick could see-" Alvin never managed to finish that sentence. Hiccup clicked the button to release the speartip before attacking, jumping to Alvin's side to stab his sword arm. Just like they practiced. The man screamed, making all the sailors turn around in confusion.

Astrid didn't waste any time, tearing her eyes away from Hiccup to grab her dagger from her sleeve and stabbing the henchman pulling her in the gut. Blood spilled over her wrist, but she couldn't stop to think about that.

"Stormfly!" she shouted as she ran towards Toothless, who was trying to claw at the nearest enemy through the net. She quickly cut the rope anchoring the net, and pulled it off the dragon as her Nadder dove from the sky and shot a stream of fire between her and a group of goons. Men screamed in agony.

Astrid was sure the dragons could handle themselves now, and ran for her axe. Just before she reached it, a man ran in her way, sword raised. She didn't stop to think. Her shield went up purely instinctual, bashing the man and making him stagger. A moment later he fell to the ground when she slashed his leg.

A plasma blast flew right past her when she crouched to pick up her axe, making her look up. She froze at the sight. Alvin lay unconscious on the deck, but two other men were advancing on Hiccup. The one Hiccup was blocking was struck by the plasma blast. He screamed loudly as he staggered. Faint guilt rose up in Astrid when she saw him fall over the railing, a smoke trail from his burning clothes and a loud splash the only proof he had just been there.

Had been alive.

But then she saw the other man, the tall second-in-command, raise his strange bone weapon. Hiccup clearly hadn't noticed him, confused by all the sound and chaos.

Suddenly nothing else mattered. Astrid screamed something, she couldn't tell what, and threw her dagger. It struck the man in his lower back, piercing deeply, and Astrid knew the blade had slipped between his ribs.

The bastard fell backwards with a strange muffled gasp, a fountain of blood spurting from the wound. Astrid's eyes moved from the enemy to Hiccup, who had not reacted to what she had just done.

Instead, he recovered from his fight with the other goon, raising his spear and turning around, obviously ready for more.

Astrid forgot about the battle for a moment, entranced by her Hiccup, standing tall and powerful. The last sun rays bathed him in glowing red, his hair and blindfold shining bright.

He looked like a god. He looked like he could fight a god. He had fought a god. He had slain the Red Death, he is the Dragon Conqueror, and who were these puny mortals to stand in his way?

But then an axe flew right past her face, so close Astrid could feel the wind rustle her hair, and she remembered they were mortals too.

"Hiccup! We gotta get out of here!" she shouted, grabbing her axe and running towards him. "Get on Toothless! We can't fight them all!"

Toothless seemed to understand her as well, slamming a goon between him and Hiccup. The blind boy quickly found his dragon and wasted no time jumping in the saddle while Astrid fought another man, bashing his head with the broad of her axe until he staggered back.

"Astrid! Hop on, now!" Hiccup called out, and she climbed behind him on Toothless. The dragon took off as soon as she was in position, and then they were flying. Astrid looked back, seeing the unmoving bodies on the deck. The largest one caught her attention, and she couldn't bear to let him get away.

"Stormfly, fetch!" she shouted, pointing at Alvin, and the Nadder grabbed him in his claws, firing spikes at the few remaining Outcasts when they tried to interfere.

"Come on, back to Berk!" Hiccup shouted, and Astrid suddenly realized she was holding onto him with all her might.

--------------------------------------------------------

They flew for a few minutes, the screams of wounded men and the creaking of the ship making way for dead silence. The only sounds Hiccup could hear were the flapping wings of Toothless and Stormfly, and Astrid's shuddering breaths against his neck. She had her arms tight around him, still holding her weapons. Her axe was cold against his face.

His mind was blurry, still trying to process all that had happened. He had come so close to losing Astrid.

"Are you okay?" the question made Astrid jump a little, pulling her arms back and flinching when a tip of her axe got caught in his shirt. Hiccup could feel her hands shaking as she sheathed her axe behind her back.

"I'm fine. They didn't hurt me," she said flatly, and he didn't believe her. But before he could ask her again, she grabbed his head and turned it around gently, so he faced her.

"You're okay too, right? If they hurt you, I'll… I'll…" her voice trailed off, trembling with anger, completely different from her denial seconds before. Hiccup opened his mouth to say something, he didn't know what, but she pulled him to her, kissing him hard and aggressively.

"You came for me," she mumbled between open-mouthed kisses, her tongue intertwining with his and then letting go in an unpredictable pattern. Although Hiccup was glad she was there with him, this felt wrong. She had never been this rough with him before, and it scared him. His hands landed on her waist, moving up her arms to her shoulders.

"Stop," he managed to say, pushing her back a bit.

"Why? Don't you want this?" she asked angrily, trying to kiss him again before freezing. Maybe she saw the terrified look on his face.

"I'm sorry. I just… I just had to… to know, to feel you're alive. That you're with me. That… That I'm not back there," she whispered, dropping her hands to his sides.

"It's okay. I was just a bit overwhelmed. You were intense!" he said, trying not to sound scared. "Also, and I'm really sorry for saying this, but you smell awful, and it kind of ruined the mood for me," he chuckled. It wasn't a lie, she reeked of shit and sweat and puke and blood and things he didn't even wanted to know.

She snorted, a weird mix of laugh and cry, before pulling back a bit.

"I feel awful. When we get back, I just want a long hot bath," she said, and Hiccup suspected it wasn't a joke.

"They didn't… touch you, did they?" He hated to ask it, the very thought made him sick, but he had to know she was okay, that those bastards hadn't…

"No. They didn't do that," Astrid said wearily. "I'm just… They knocked me out with some kind of poison, and the cell was filthy, and I just feel dirty."

Sighing, Hiccup put his arms around her. "I'm sorry I couldn't protect you," he whispered, not feeling very strong anymore. He could feel Astrid back straighten.

"What? Are you kidding me?! You came for me! You fought that bastard, and saved me! Without you I'd never have escaped!" she said heatedly, putting her hands on his shoulders and shaking him softly.

"Seems like you were escaping just fine when I arrived. All I did was offer you a ride home," he said, and she chuckled.

"Sure, dragon conqueror," she laughed, before falling solemn again.

"I can't stop thinking about it. While we were fighting I wasn't thinking at all, but now I keep seeing it over and over in my head. All the blood. I stabbed people. I... Do you think I k-killed them?" Astrid slowly asked, her hands holding him almost painfully tight. He shook his head, not sure what to say.

"I don't know," Hiccup eventually said. "There were a lot of them to help their wounded buddies, and maybe they got their wounds bandaged in time. Or you didn't hurt them that badly," he said, knowing they were empty words even as he spoke. Her tone of voice made it clear they had not been simple scratches.

"But Astrid… You did what you had to. To protect yourself. And to protect me, and Stormfly, and Toothless! That's what I love about you. You didn't hesitate fighting off everyone who would harm us. I don't think they'll be coming after us again anytime soon," he said, rubbing her shoulder gently. She slowly nodded.

"I suppose you're right. But it still feels… I don't know. It was never like this in my mother's stories. At least we captured Alvin. I don't think he's dead," she said, her arm releasing him to point somewhere, and Hiccup remembered she told Stormfly to fetch as they escaped.

"Good job, Stormfly!" he called out to the Nadder flying somewhere nearby, and got a happy squawk in reply. But Astrid was still troubled and tense in his arms.

"Look, lots of crazy stuff just happened. Of course you need time to process it. But you've got me, and Stormfly, and your parents, and Camicazi, and we'll all be there to help you, okay? Whatever you need," he said, pulling her into a hug.

"You freaking… dork! Why do you have to be so freaking sweet and perfect and know what to say!" she sniffed, and Hiccup felt tears fall on his shirt.

"It's okay. You're a hero to me, no matter how you feel," he whispered, and she punched his arm lightly.

"You're the hero. You should have seen yourself on that deck after fighting off Alvin. Gods, that should have been on that shield," Astrid said heatedly.

"Haha, maybe we should tell my father that," he laughed, and Astrid tensed a bit.

"I wasn't should tell your father that. You just fought off Alvin the Treacherous single-handedly, you can tell him you deserve a shield that's you. Strong and tall and incredible, even with your handicaps. You showed me you are that man. Now show Berk," she said, and he pulled out of the hug just as Toothless signaled they were approaching Berk and that Hiccup had to switch the fin to landing mode.

"Hiccup! Are you alright?!" His father's booming voice rang clear through the general murmuring when Toothless landed in the square.

"Dad, people of Berk…" Hiccup started as he jumped off Toothless, legs a little shaky on solid ground. "May I present my prisoner… Alvin the Treacherous!" he said as Stormfly landed, dropping something heavy with a loud thud.

"...How?" was all Stoick managed to say after a stunned silence.

"It's a long story. Now first of all, Gothi has to check out Astrid. I think she's fine, but we should make sure. We need to get Alvin to the prison. And thirdly… I demand a shield that actually portrays the heir of Berk," Hiccup said loudly. Suddenly he felt faint. He was doing this. He couldn't believe he was saying these things.

But then Astrid was there, grabbing his hand and drawing a little heart. It made him stand straight, shoulders back and chin up.

"As you can see, I can fight, I can win, even with my blindfold and my leg. And… And I think the portrait should show that! But it wouldn't be complete either without Toothless on it. I couldn't have done it without Toothless. And Astrid. She completes me, and no portrait of me is complete without them."

"Son…" Stoick started, voice flat. "You're absolutely right! Now that's a chief talking! And the shield shall portray a chief!" he shouted, grabbing Hiccup without warning and lifting him in the air, squeezing tightly.

"Dad! Air!" Hiccup managed to groan, not feeling very chiefly when his father released him. But then Astrid grabbed his hand again, and he felt like the strongest man alive.

Unforgivable Traitors

There are two people who I cannot forgive. Traitors who betrayed Hiccup. One is from the books and another is from the movies. Well kind of two from the books, but one traitor was able to redeem himself in Hiccup’s eyes. These three people are: Valhallarama, Mildew, and Snotlout.

Let’s start with Mildew, because he seems to be the least traitorous of the three. Or at least, I have yet to see whether he redeems himself. All right, so his traitorous crime was not only to Hiccup, but to the tribe of Berk itself. A Mildew does not exist in the books, but I believe he was created as a version of Hiccup’s kooky grandfather, although the grandfather wasn’t a hater of dragons, just eccentric. Anyway, Mildew betrays Hiccup at the end of Season 1 in Dragons: Riders of Berk, by drawing a false map of the Isle of Night, where Hiccup believes that more Night Furies may exist. It was actually a trap, Mildew became an Outcast, and Hiccup & Toothless fell into the clutches of Alvin the Treacherous. I don’t care that Mildew helped him escape, it was a trick from the beginning. The dragons Alvin trains will be destroying Berk, his former home. I just can’t believe that Mildew would betray his fellow Berkians, and for what!? Just because he didn’t like that dragons had moved in? No, TRAITOR!

Next is Snotlout, who is not evil in the animated series, but very well becomes so in the books. After the tenth book, Hiccup is exiled and Snotlout becomes chief of the Hooligan Tribe, but the villagers reside on the island they call Berk. Snotlout always felt he was better than his cousin, but also was jealous of him at times as well. In the twelfth book, Hiccup is forced to work with Snotlout to rescue Camicazi. Before they ventured into Alvin’s lair, Hiccup figures out that his cousin will be betraying him, and indeed he does. They creep in, and decide to retreat to come up with a plan to better Camicazi’s escape, and Hiccup is ready to be snatched by the Vikings who are working with Alvin. Snoutlout lured his own cousin into a trap, leaving him at the hands of his greatest enemy. Hiccup was cocooned in chains, and tortured by being drowned for several minutes, and only survived because of his dragons, who could breathe underwater, and in turn, provided Hiccup with air. Hiccup escapes, along with Camicazi, but Snotlout is nearly killed. Hiccup reluctantly accepts his treacherous cousin’s company. In the end, I was able to forgive him. Because he redeemed himself by trading clothes with Hiccup, and was shot down by the Alvinsmen, the tribe Alvin created that fought on the human side of the war. Snotlout died for Hiccup, so he wasn’t a traitor in the end. 

And finally, Valhallarama. She is Hiccup’s mother, in the books. I don’t understand why they changed it to Valka for the movies. She also is blonde with blue eyes, and very muscled, even more than her son. And she didn’t disappear, but she was constantly questing. So Hiccup didn’t get to see much of his mother. Why I think she was the worse of the three, and why I consider her a traitor is because of this. When Hiccup was exiled, Alvin the Treacherous put a bounty on Hiccup’s head, to bring him dead or alive. His own mother takes the bounty, and kidnaps her own son. TWICE!! The first time, she stalked him, then caught him off guard and delivered him to Alvin, where he was trying to get the slaves to join the rebellion. The second time, Hiccup just recovered from saving Fishlegs and nearly being eaten by a dragon, and was riding a dragon that could turn invisible. His mother comes again, and kidnaps him and takes him to the slave jail. Sure his mother later convinced the other slaves to join Hiccup’s side and bare the Slavemark, which has now become the Dragonmark, but I still cannot see past it. Hiccup could have gone on his own path of retrieving the King’s items had his mother not interferred. I mean, what kind of mothe kidnaps her own son, for a mere bounty!? What kind of heartless mother are you!?

So there’s my rant. Hiccup is betrayed by humans, not dragons. I don’t blame him for willing to live with dragons instead of humans. They can be downright cruel, especially from what happens to the heir of Berk in the twelve thrilling tales.

Feel free to comment and tell me what you think! Maybe a follow too? I’ll take any questions you’ve got!

You talked earlier about Hiccups willingness to kill humans but not dragons but I respectfully disagree, I think the singetail riders were just a production oversight. I say that because Hiccup saved Krogan, prevented Heather from killing Dagur, was upset when Vigo "died" hence him saying "it didn't have to end this way" and saving Mildew countless times. Either way I love your work!

From this.

Thank you so much for the kind words! And hey, it’s fun to talk about this topic! I’ll be happy to clarify what I meant since I think that my words may have been unclear or misread.

But anyway… to your comments. XD

You and I are looking from RTTE from different angles. I’ve brought it up in other posts, but I’m happy to bring it up again! I always analyze from an in-world perspective: the only things that I consider relevant are what happen within the official materials themselves. I treat the movies, shows, books, comics, etc. as though they are the “real deal lives” that the characters live. A different way to analyze is through a meta consideration, in which case you look at production, writer intent, behind the scenes interviews, etc. - basically, you look at the stuff that is beyond the story. In my way of analyzing, I fit together the pieces of what I see in the shows to give the best possible explanation for everything that goes together! There is no way for me to say “production error” from my analytical perspective, so there is no way for us to disagree. We’d be talking past each other if we talked like that, you from one analytical angle, me from an entirely different one.

I’m sorry if my post suggested that Hiccup was really willing to kill humans. That was never the intent of my post and that was never my perspective. The point of my post was that Hiccup has a balance: he’s pacifistic, but he’s also someone who will still fight in certain circumstances. I definitely agree with you that Hiccup is someone who desires to save people, and has gone out to save other humans, too, even enemies. What I mean to say is that while Hiccup is someone who wants peace and wants to save other people, there are many times where Hiccup is willing to fight or harm other humans. Hiccup will fight humans in times of strain, from HTTYD times to HTTYD 2.

The Wings of War isn’t the only time that Hiccup has fought and harmed humans; this episode isn’t an anomaly in Hiccup’s behavior. Hiccup has fought many people, including Outcasts and dragon hunters. In Riders of Berk, Hiccup was even ready to kill Alvin the Treacherous to save Astrid (this is in Heather Report Part 2). Hiccup similarly seemed bent on revenge-harming or killing Alvin at the end of We Are Family Part 2. Hiccup has been in many fights with dragon hunters throughout RTTE, and while he’s probably not trying to kill any of them, he is still engaging in violent battle. That’s the point I mean to make: Hiccup is someone who wants peace, but he is also someone who will fight humans when he needs to, especially when the people he fights aren’t innocent bystanders.

Hiccup usually tries to fight to disarm people or get them to some point where they cannot fight again. In the same way, Hiccup knocks a human off a Singetail; he doesn’t directly kill the person, which already says something about Hiccup’s values about how he treats humans. I do point out that it’s still the case the human flier could die after he falls into the ocean, though. But in all of this, Hiccup is doing the same sort of thing he always has: fight humans who are enemies, who he needs to fight.

And again in HTTYD 2, Hiccup does charge into the middle of a battle. He’s not targeting to kill humans, but he is targeting to stop the humans from caging dragons. That is still a situation in which a human could get harmed through Hiccup’s actions. It’s not exactly like Toothless’ plasma blasts are harmless. If you stare really closely at screencaps in HTTYD 2, you’ll see that even when Hiccup has Toothless target Drago’s war machines, some humans get burnt or thrown from the blast. People die from Hiccup’s fighting in HTTYD 2. Hiccup is engaging in a battle to stop humans who are not innocent, even though he does want to stop the war so that all humans and all dragons don’t experience bloodshed.

Hiccup’s personal philosophy is very complicated. It’s not a simple, straightforward, “Save dragons, but who cares if I hit a few humans?” That’s never what I have believed. Hiccup’s personal philosophy is much more complex. He has limits to how much defensive fighting he’ll do against dragons, especially dragons that are innocent, as we see in The Wings of War. Hiccup draws a line at the Singetails because they’re innocent. He cannot harm them. But the fliers are not innocent, and Hiccup will engage with them as he has other enemies in his past, his present, and even, to some extent, his future in HTTYD 2.

Hiccup does still grow by the time he reaches HTTYD 2. He is someone who wants peace even more in HTTYD 2 than he does in RTTE S5; HTTYD 2 is when he’s the most adverse to violence in his life. There’s always the timeline to look to, as well, when considering Hiccup’s personal philosophy. His personal philosophy is nuanced in that it’s always being tweaked, little by little, by the experiences he undergoes. A younger Hiccup demonstrates a bit of a different philosophy than older Hiccup. And even S5 RTTE Hiccup is different in his philosophy than start-of-HTTYD 2 Hiccup.

Brief intro to a story

Well, this is Miniqued/Poscha again. Hmm I don't know what to start with, actually. Have no idea. Well I've written above in description, I guess, that this blog is for writing some stuff in English. Just some stuff, not a big deal, like fics or just random writing. Maybe some critical stuff, though I don't really know how to write anything critical. Let's consider this is just for myself, nothing more. I'm not really good at writing, though i like writing and most of my unfinished stories are about a fictional world and some characters in it. Worlds and storylines may vary but some main traits of characters remain unchanged. This is the first time i've tried to write in English so please don't be harsh on me. I have a lot of flaws I guess in writing. I definitely do have. Huh, but let's give it a try anyway. And when writing I like to take notes describing the reasons and emotions behind characters main motives, what actually drives them and so on. I think I will post that kind of stuff too as I will go further. Cause I kinda like it. My main story now I think is about a character named Suol. She is a young girl who has been raised in Savagoy previously having lived in Ronnia, another country. Savagoy is situated in the South of this story world while Ronnia is in the north-west side. Suol is approximately 18-19 years old when the whole story starts. She is cold, considered beautiful by others, incredulous and somehow restrained. She is a typical ronnian girl and seems a bit like a foreign body in savagoian society because of her appearance and personality. She is not outgoing and sociable as other southerners or her friends. Suol has a rather painful background, she doesn't trust others and is a little suspicious of them. When story begins she meets ronnian acquintances from her childhood days. One of them, Alvin Ronn, is trying to achieve his goals in Savagoy and lures Nario Arvi to Ronnia escaping with his girlfriend. Suol goes after them being sent by her guardians. Ilaf Arvi wants her to infiltrate Alvin's surroundings becoming his subordinates. Suol achieves it and starts sending data about his actions to Savagoy and other groups. Alvin is fully aware of it, but keeps Suol in his surrounding in order to be in control of the situation. Suol is the main narrator of the story and we see actions of others through her eyes and perception. She has some distant feelings for both Alvin and his father Ilaf Arvi who uses her in his plan. In the end she chooses the side of Alvin, but eventually left behind by him for previously lying to him. She tryes to analyze her feelings and emotions only to find out that she is empty and doesn't have any sort of will except for revenge. She manages to avenge her mother's death after which she was sent to live in Savagoy. She kills lord Lucian Ronn in a bloody fight alongside Manirela Ronn. The reason why she is a main character is her complicated path and relationships with others. She knows both savagoian and ronnian cultures and people in both societies. She belonged to neither of them at birth, but was raised in both places. She tries to avenge her mother, but is used for completely different purposes by other people. She knows very well what kind of purposes for, though she agrees to plans of Ilaf Arvi and goes to Ronnia again. After her mother's death she was bullied by ronnian kids who saw a target and a victim in her. Suol is not ravaged by injustice of the world around her, but has a goal of bringing justice. The one who is ravaged is Alvin, the opposite of hers in every aspect. Al is an antihero, hero-lover and romantic hero too. He is more callous and mature than Nario, full of hatred and cruelty, not without honor and manifestations of kindness, humanity. His initial humanity is the starting point for all his atrocities for his far-reaching goals he will do anything. Like Taniru, Nario's ex-girlfriend, he is physically attractive and handsome, has a surprisingly beautiful appearance, but is rotten from the inside, has the worst intentions and is unprincipledly cruel. He is also emotional and furious like Nario, but he is more restrained and knows how to manage his emotions for the sake of his goals. Alvin is perceptive, cunning, treacherous and clever in the implementation of his plans. He sometimes uses the most extreme methods. Callous and flawed, he is more sensual and extremely cruel with enemies, but not without sincere mercy. He understands the cold and cruel world of Ronnia and is ready to do for anything to change it. Emotions overwhelm him, but he hides them under the guise of cruelty, and when he can no longer bear them, he goes beyond rationality, obeying only his blind hatred and the bitter accumulation of injustice. Then he is emptied of all his gnawing emotions and unconsciously seeks solace from the one who saw no less than him. In contrast to the sensual attraction to Taniru, Al is looking for a spiritual comrade in Suol. He is frank with her and understands that only with her can he afford to frantically open up. He understands that he was only aware of his dark feelings of resentment and anger, and was guided only by them, by his hatred and perverted love for his father, his aversion to the true nature of Taniru and carnal attraction to her body, contempt for his own mother and inexpressible and carefully concealed love for her, which was combined with bitter regret for her unfulfilled fate and female misfortune, user-related attitude to Suol and long-standing bright feelings for her that have not faded away in him over the years from their childhood. He gives the impression of a person who has long lost hope or knows that hope never existed. Disappointed in the world, he began to do what he wanted, by any means and at any cost. And the price turns out to be what actually constituted the whole meaning of his life, and he destroyed it with his own hands, arrogantly believing that he could do without them, but then comes the quite predictable devastation. The relationship between Suol and Alvin is intertwined with past feelings, obstacles in the faces of the others around them, mutual attraction, sympathy, some sort of growing confidence and at the same time wariness. Suol tries to hide in shadows while achieving her goals, Alvin does everything blatantly and in public. In the end it's clear that they had the same goal - destroying the toxic world of Ronnia. They leave Ronnia together after having done everything to ruin it. Suol kills Lucian Ronn, the one who was actually in power, and after his death the chaos becomes uncontrollable leading to destruction. Alvin puts Ronnia in a war using cover in the face of Kaleian forces and leaves Manirela without any control while she is about to die from injuries inflicted by Suol letting her demolish the whole city. Alvin silently watches his mother die apathetic to her pleas. His cruelty is unreasonable, but he never had love for his own mother and becomes indifferent to her eventual fate. Because Manirela has never tried to love him or has never seen him as her child instead hating him for being born to the world where she wasn't loved by his father, Ilaf Arvi. Manirela was failure of a mother putting fury and rage in Alvin since birth for being nothing to his own parents. Alvin suffers from being raised loveless, he tries to attract Ilaf Arvi's attention by any means, but eventually fails facing his negligence. He thinks the roots of his father's indifference is in him, in Alvin, but soon realizes that all his attempts was worthless and he has spent so much time for nothing. He becomes just as apathetic to the world as his father and decides to leave his country behind alongside Suol, who has suffered from greater injustice than him, having been brought to Ronnia from another place by her foster mother only to be severely bullied and abused after her parent figure's death. Suol was abused and beaten by her mother, Kassien, on a regular basis and Alvin knew about it as a child. Another person standing between Suol and Alvin is Taniru who escapes with the latter only to be disappointed with the life in Ronnia. Taniru is careless, attractive and thoughtless, she is fed up with her rather tedious and not really evolving relationships with her boyfriend Nario. She sees nothing new in their bond and easily seduced by the promising intercourse with Alvin Ronn, a ronnian prince. She faces unexpected consequences from her relations with him. She and Alvin are banished from the royal palace for the latter bringing his concubine which was deeply offensive to the Ronn family members some of which were born from a concubine of the previous king. Al has no intention of marrying Taniru and soon their life together becomes marred with sin as Al finds out that Taniru is actually his half-sister. He is disgusted with this revelation but keeps her in Ronnia till he achieves want he wants. Taniru reveals afterwards that she is pregnant and situation worsens even further. She doesn't know about her being an illegitimate child of Ilaf Arvi and is jealous when Alvin leaves her behind going to the war with Suol. Taniru secretly harbours suspicions about her mothers's relationship with Ilaf Arvi and an untimely death of her father who was always jealous of her mother. She comes to not comforting conclusion that she might be Nario's and Alvin's sister torn by remorse and fear. She remembers that she was the one who involuntarily killed her father(the one she thought was her father) after he beat her mother for infidelity. The mask of a carefree, obtuse and naive person gradually fades away as she finds herself torn with fear and uncertainty of the future. She is still egocentric though, despite the fact that she is left behind by the one who only thought to use her against Nario. She tardily demands attention from Alvin who already becomes cold towards her. Taniru kills Suol after the latter tried to save her thinking that Suol is the source of her misery for she won Alvin away from her despite the fact that Alvin and Suol never really had any love affair. Alvin leaves Taniru unconcious of their incest and destroys all life forces of immortal Nario who also knew about their blood relations but kept loving her no matter what. Alvin sees that Nario is the one of the people who personally loved him but fails to understand it in time. It was as if Nario loved all of them instead of their indifferent father. Alvin fails to catch up to a person who was compassionate to him and to his fate. Who cared about him despite Alvin's hatred for him. Nario becomes a martyr Alvin didn't deserve for he has done only callous things to him. And Taniru also realizes too late that she is likely to never see Nario again before she leaves Ronnia. But she comes back to the death field to see a beaten Nario who lost everything. Alvin only then reveals that they both are her brothers. Alvin and Taniru didn't deserve Nario but he is gone now because of their egoistic actions. Suol is gone too, but Alvin brings her back to life with his abilities nearing those of a god. Taniru and Alvin are examples of how feelings of someone can be immature and utterly selfish. They never loved each other, they only needed what was represented through each other. Alvin wanted to enrage Nario by seducing his beautiful, but thoughtless girlfriend. Taniru wanted to marry a more promising party in the face of a more passionate and handsome Alvin. They both wore a mask of someone they weren't. They were liars, and the ones they tried to deceive were themselves. Opposite to them, Suol and Nario were of a much more modest opinion of themselves, sacrifacing some part of them for others. Both of them were somehow destroyed in a clash. But Alvin realizing his true feelings through the example of Nario brings her back to life as only he is able to do it. Alvin perfectly knows that he was born as a part of an experiment to see what kind of a person would be born as a result of an affair between Ronn and Arvi, Manirela and Ilaf. His parents failed to understand each other, though they did love each other, dooming Alvin to live in disgrace of being born half-breed. Taniru was somehow right suspecting infidelity just as her late father, dying from jealousy and thinking that Alvin and Suol had an affair. If they ever wanted to have an affair they just never happened to express it. Alvin knew the true nature of Suol's agenda, Ilaf Arvi's plans to distract him through her presence and her spying on him. He literally lets her do it, though he is not particularly happy about it. Alvin is aware that letting her do what she actually does will eventually benefit him. He knows very well that deep down Suol would choose him over others as it really happens when she betrays Ilaf Arvi and Manirela Ronn whom she previously worked for and helps Alvin get free. But Alvin leaves her though going to conquer the capital city on his own. Suol becomes alone and empty and goes to living in a former house of her mother, about whom Manirela told that she was very abusive towards Suol revealing that Kassien struggled all her childhood before she fled to Ronnia with lord Lucian Ronn escaping a miserable fate of an illegitimite child of an Airusu general. Her mother and father died in a war fighting for her real father. When she found out about it after their death she left her grandmother. All her childhood was spent in unterminable and constant clashes between her mother and grandma. Her mother went to the war to fight alongside her loved one and died because of it. Suol doesn't know what to do when she comes back to her ronnite district. She then sets free her former classmates from Savagoy and tells them to quit Ronnia as there will be nothing soon. She goes to Alvin in the royal palace and severely injures Manirela Ronn as she attempts to have the power back. Alvin is indifferent to his mother who failed to raise him and leaves her to the fate of the death. He and Suol disappear into oblivion, leaving ruined Ronnia behind.

The Phantom of the Arena Sequel? - Update

Hey everyone! 

Some of you might have seen things going around on my page about a possible sequel to The Phantom of the Arena, so I figured I could give you guys an update on what my plans are!

I have outlined the first part of the story and have written the first 9k words of what I refer to act 1 (currently I have 7 acts planned, of varying lengths). Given that I know I won’t have a lot of time to write in the future however, especially not as much as I did while working on Phantom 1, I have decided that I want to have a significant amount of buffer before I consider posting. Also as a test to myself, I suppose, of whether I can really follow through on writing this story. 

But! I would like to give you guys a bit of a sneak peek, so please allow me to share the summary and a few of the tags the story would have!

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Title: The Phantom of the Archipelago 

Rating: Mature

Archive Warning: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: F/M, M/M

Relationships: Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III/Astrid Hofferson, Eret/Viggo Grimborn, Eret/Tuffnut Thorston, Stoick the Vast/Valka, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III & Stoick the Vast

Characters (Not Exhaustive, at all): Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, Astrid Hofferson, Stoick the Vast, Tuffnut Thorston, Ruffnut Thorston, Original Child(ren) of Astrid and Hiccup, Snotlout Jorgenson, Spitelout Jorgenson, Original Child(ren) of Ruffnut and Snotlout, Heather (How to Train Your Dragon), Fishlegs Ingerman, Gobber the Belch, Dagur the Deranged, Eret (How to Train Your Dragon), Original Family of Eret, Viggo Grimborn, Ryker Grimborn, Drago Bludvist, Valka (How to Train Your Dragon), Toothless (How to Train Your Dragon), Alvin the Treacherous

Summary:

After five years of relentlessly putting up a siege against the Red Death, Hiccup, the former terrorist known as the Phantom of the Arena, has finally defeated the Archipelago's greatest enemy, putting a definitive end to the dragon raids. Hoping the worst is finally behind him, he returns to Berk, only to find he left more behind than just the girl he loved. And that life still isn’t done with him.

Outside of the Archipelago, Eret, son of Eret, is left with nothing after a mysterious dragon rider destroys his fort and releases the captured dragons his employer sorely needed. Fearing he’ll be killed if he doesn’t, he flees to the Archipelago with what little remains, hoping to find refuge in the dragon-infested area. But the threat seems to have followed him there, as news spreads of how Berk's infamous Phantom has returned to reclaim what's his. And that dragon hunters like Eret will never be safe, unless they act against him.

The Hunted Rider Of Berk

One thing the animated series had in common with the How To Train Your Dragon books is that Hiccup is a rarity. There are countless times, in both book and animation that Hiccup is kidnapped several times or nearly killed. And each times it happens, I get a sudden pang of pain in my stomach. Ever since I finished Season 5 of Dragons: Race to the Edge, and started watching the Cartoon Network series I have seen just how many times Hiccup is put in danger. But, his kidnappings vary in both book and animation.

For that, I have to do something that’ll cause a lot of pain in my stomach just envisioning these occurrences. Whenever Hiccup is kidnapped in the animated series, it’s just him and Toothless. He goes off alone much more times than I thought. In the books, it could be kind of similar, because Toothless is so tiny that he’s in Hiccup’s coat most of the time. I think the writers compensated for it by having the Night Fury and Hiccup together when Hiccup falls into a villain’s clutches. As for book Hiccup, he is usually kidnapped right alongside Camicazi and Fishlegs. Book Hiccup is usually taken because he is the heir of Berk, and then because he is considered a traitor to the humans who fighting for the extinction of dragons. Animated Hiccup is taken because he possesses knowledge that is valuable to the enemies that wish to bring harm to dragons. 

All right, the first time is when Alvin the Treacherous executes an attack on Berk, searching for Stoick’s boy, who is the Dragon Conqueror. He doesn’t know it’s Hiccup, and certainly doesn’t know that Hiccup is a scrawny small boy. Hiccup willingly gives himself up, and tricks Alvin into taking him to Dragon Island, where he knew Toothless would help him. Unfortunately, giving Alvin his first defeat only strengthened his desire to have Hiccup to train the dragons he had captured. 

The second time, is when Snotlout and Hiccup crash land on Outcast Island. They both know that they cannot leave until Hiccup fixes the connecting rod to Toothless’ wing. Snotlout shouldn’t have walked away, but Hiccup wasn’t going to argue with him if he was going to behave like a little kid. He walked right into their clutches, and if it wasn’t for Toothless seeking out Snotlout for help, he would have been in a lot of trouble. 

The third time, oh this one pissed me off to no end. It reminds me of something that happened in the books. Hiccup was captured three times in one single season, in Dragons: Riders of Berk. For the season finale, we were given a two-parter where Hiccup discovers that other Night Furies may exist. On the night before he and his friends were supposed to leave for the island first thing in the morning, Hiccup copies the map. The fact that other Night Furies do not get along with other dragons did not seem like a legitimate enough reason for Hiccup to go alone. You could tell that something was going to go wrong. We come to find out that the map was forged, and Hiccup had been tricked. Now he and Toothless had been taken captive by Alvin the Treacherous for what we thought would be for good. 

Mildew betrayed the heir of Berk, putting him into Alvin’s clutches. But his motive, was because he thought Hiccup put too much trust in the dragons. I just can’t believe he would do something so cruel to Hiccup, just because he hates dragons. I think, that what Hiccup learned instead of placing too much trust in dragons, were that his fellow Vikings were more vile than the dragons. He liberated himself, but almost fell back into the clutches of Alvin once again. But the dragons proved their loyalty, and returned Hiccup to his father and friends. Mildew coming out as a traitor, reminds me of Hiccup’s cousin Snotlout from the books. Hiccup places trust in his cousin, but still knew he would be betrayed, because his cousin wanted power, and would give the heir of Berk to the evil side to get what he wanted. 

Of course what I also like is that it doesn’t matter how many times he’s captured, he never shows fear, and even has a banter with his captors, He’s in ropes, and being threatened, and still retorts, even refuses to succumb to his captor’s threats. 

The sad thing is, there was a stark contrast between book Hiccup’s captures and animated Hiccup’s captures. Animated Hiccup always had his friends to save him, and they never failed to come to his rescue. As for book Hiccup, he had to rescue himself and his two friends. Most of the time, his father didn’t even know he had been captured. I mean, Hiccup ventured to the New World and back to Berk, and his father never knew what had occurred. 

I’ll be posting on the captures in Dragons: Race to the Edge soon. Stick around, and feel free to give me any comments or questions you’ve got! Give me a follow, and y’all can see what else I have to say on How to Train Your Dragon.

Mind Blowing Season 5 Ending!

So I was drastically behind on Season Five on Dragons: Race to the Edge. I watched the Wings of War Parts 1 and 2, and took a stop there because school began. Today, was the blissful day I could take a pause and finish the remaining episodes of the season. It’s been a while since I read the books, so I may overlooked details they included. Except in the last episode, the comparison was very distinct. 

I always had my suspicions about Trader Johann. There were many times that he led the Dragon Riders into traps and later profusely apologized, giving the excuse that he never had the faintest idea it was a trap. After all, he was the one who first led Hiccup into finding the Dragon Eye. Remember that? Season 1, that was the first episode. Unluckily for him, it never fell into his hands. 

I confess, I was still mind-blown when we came to find that everything had gone according to plan, and Johann now had possession of the Dragon Eye. Johann the Traitor. A similar name, and the way he spoke of the King of Dragons, he sounds very similar to a book character. Ring a bell? How about Alvin the Treacherous? 

Both came the same way. When Alvin first washed up on Berk’s shores, he came across a humble homeless Viking who shared some radical beliefs. Hiccup thought he was strange, but because he was a guest he had to entertain Alvin, and he seemed to take a particular interest in the heir of Berk and the Chief himself. He infiltrated the island, and gained most of the villagers’ trust. Later it comes that he is a traitor, and becomes Hiccup’s worst enemy. 

Now, after two years and five long seasons, we come to find that Viggo, Krogan, Ryker, and maybe even Dagur, may have been working under Johann the whole time! The King of Dragons, that may be the Bewilderbeast, which means we’ve already worked our way to the second movie. It all makes sense, the puzzle pieces have started falling into place. Johann and the Dragon Hunters find the Bewilderbeast, which maybe they wind up giving it to Drago. It is doubtful that they actually find Valka’s because she’s safely hidden away. ,

Johann has reason for revenge as well, which makes sense if he’s working with Drago. Drago finds the chief that survived the attack from his armored dragons was Stoick the Vast. Drago doesn’t know who Hiccup is, but once he does, he takes the endangered dragon, Toothless, for his own. The only question is, does something happen to Johann in Season Six? Does he use the King of Dragons for his own plans first?

Guys, they’ve been building Hiccup’s most vicious villain from right under our noses! Developing him, throughout five seasons! Who knows what season 6 will bring!?

Catching Up: To Be An Ultimate Fangirl

So y’all are probably going to get mad at me when I say this, but I gotta put it out there. I’ve been living with missing puzzle pieces. I have never seen the Cartoon Network series of Dreamworks Dragons: Riders of Berk. I have started watching it little by little. I am almost done with the first season, and frankly, am shocked that there only two seasons. There are more on the Netflix series, and it is believed that they will get to Season 6. 

The most shocking thing I have seen so far, is that they did create an Alvin the Treacherous, and he is the leader of the Outcasts. But he isn’t the Alvin from the books. Not by a long shot. First off, he doesn’t lose any limbs, or an eye, not like the book Alvin. And Alvin is not Hiccup’s most formidable enemy, also because he never comes close to dying, not like book Alvin. We also should all know, that when compared to the other villains Hiccup and the other Riders have fought, Alvin seems like mere child play. Viggo, and Krogan, they are far more challenging than Alvin the Outcast.

The character that I think fits the personality book Alvin possesses if Trader Johann, now known as Traitor Johann due to the reveal at the end of Season 5. Check my past updates to see what I mean. 

I have to say that the writers of the animated series channeled it into a different villain, because they knew many of us would never see it coming. And hey ho, they succeeded.

I still have plenty left of the first season and the entire second season, so I’ll be posting with any other “relevations” I have. Another thing, watching the Riders of Berk series, I thought I’d see a natural progression in Hiccup and the other Riders. How Hiccup would start to grow his hair out and Astrid’s face would get softer. What I failed to notice is Dragons: Race to the Edge, is a three year gap between what occurred in the Dragons: Riders of Berk. Now all I’m wondering is how much of a gap they’re going to leave between Season 6, which may very well be the last season, and the second movie. Because Hiccup definitely undergoes a major change. 

Something I also noticed when Hiccup is captured by any villain who wants him for his expansive knowledge, and they tell him, he always says either of these two responses: “ And if I don’t?” “ I’ll die before I talk.” 

What do you think? I’ll answer any questions you’ve got.