The Gray Area (2/2) - A Viggo Love Story

4

"You must be Stoic, the Chief," Sessa greeted, trying to find his face in the bright whiteness of her vision.

"And you must be Sessa," Stoic replied with a merry smile, "my son's told me a lot about you two."

Viggo averted his gaze for a moment. "I'm sure he has," he responded, trying to hide the guilt he still felt for everything he'd put these people through. When he finally met the Chief's gaze again, he gave him a sincere look and began, "you must allow me to formally apologize--"

"Please," but Stoic stopped him, "there's no need for that." The tall Chief began to walk, gesturing for the Night Riders to follow beside him. "Hiccup told me how you redeemed yourself on Berserker Island. And it would be wrong of me to hold a grudge against an x-hunter, when I myself used to kill dragons, too."

Viggo let out a light sigh of relief. "Well, all water under the bridge then, I suppose."

"Indeed," Stoic agreed. He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say more, but stopped as he spotted Toothless flying above. "Ah, there he is," he exclaimed loudly, the turned to Sessa and Viggo to add, "you'll have to excuse me for a moment; I have some important business to discuss with my son."

Sessa watched the Chief rush excitedly over to Hiccup as he landed his Night Fury. "So do we," she muttered in response, even though he was no longer with them.

Viggo smiled in amusement. "You're in the company of proud Vikings now, Sessa. You'll have to be a bit louder to keep their attention," he reminded her.

"If you ask me, it's them who need to be quieter," Sessa sighed, "I can't hear myself think." She then began to walk off in the direction of Hiccup.

However, when the pair made it to Gobber's workshop where Hiccup was, they overheard him talking. "No, these guys were trappers; dragon trappers."

"And their base," Astrid added, "you should've seen it, all stuck with ice. It was weird."

Sessa raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. "Sounds like we're all on the same page here, then," she chimed in, raising her voice a bit over her usual calm and quiet tone in order to be heard.

When Hiccup noticed the Night Riders, he smiled a bit and walked over to meet them. "Sessa, Viggo; it's good to see you guys again." He and Viggo grasped eachothers forearm in greeting. "Astrid told me you were here to warn us about some new dragon hunting organization? I'm guessing that's who we ran into on our fly back."

Viggo nodded. "Sessa and I've crossed paths with numerous hoards of these trappers in the past few months," he inquired, eyebrows drawn in in seriousness. "Though we're not yet sure why they're spreading so far down into our waters, we thought it best to give Berk a warning."

Hiccup frowned at this. "Unfortunately, I do know why they're spreading," he remarked grimly. "We spoke to one of the trappers that we ran into. He said...they're building a dragon army."

Suddenly, Hiccup had all of the attention in the room. "Or at least, the guy they're working for is," Hiccup went on, "Dargo Bloodfist, or something."

Sessa's heart nearly stopped as memories of Krogan entered her mind. Images of his soul flashed in her head, the soul with a name seemingly carved right into it. And the Chief of Berk looked just as alarmed as he corrected in a deadly soft tone, "Drago? Bludvist?"

Sessa didn't even realize that she'd been holding her breath until the name was uttered aloud, and her lungs deflated. Giving her a look of concern, Viggo whispered, "are you alright?"

"That's who Krogan was working for," Sessa answered, eyes unfocused and cast down at the floor.

Astrid turned to Sessa with wide eyes. "What?" She gawked.

Viggo was also in shock. How did Sessa know something about Krogan that he didn't even know? He'd worked along side Krogan for a time, yet never really learned a single thing about the mysterious man. But before he could ask, Stoic began to shout orders. Everyone was to hide their dragons away; the island was going to go on lockdown.

Amidst the sudden chaos, Sessa and Viggo found themselves helping to get all of the dragons safely to the Hanger. "Lilith, go to the woods with Nightshade and Grimtalon," Viggo gently ordered of his dragon, just as everything was beginning to close up. "We'll call for you when it's time to leave."

Once every other dragon was inside, along with a good many Berkians, the doors began to close. But last minute, Hiccup and Astrid both flew out on their dragons. Sessa, able to see up better in the darkened building, looked around to see the Chief approaching the other dragon riders. She was about to walk over, too, and offer help, but Viggo stopped her  with a hand on she shoulder.

When Sessa turned to meet his gaze, she could see his desperation for answers. "Drago Bludvist?" He didn't need to say anymore; Sessa knew what he was asking.

"You know how I can see souls in the sun's light," she told him. "I've seen Krogan's. And that name...it was burned into his soul like a brand. I've never seen anything like it before." Sessa paused and looked around at the surrounding dragons and people. "I don't know anything about him....but what influence does this man have? To be able to claim a person's soul like that?"

Now Viggo understood why she'd grown so pale at hearing the name. "He..certainly sounds like a force to be reckoned with," he admitted with a frown.

"Viggo," Sessa looked back up into her love's eyes, a look of determination in her own, "we can't let this man go through with whatever plans he has."

"I couldn't agree more," Viggo assured. "But we are only a pair and, against a whole dragon army, I doubt we'd stand a chance alone. Perhaps if we were to enlist some help..." He implied trailing off.

Sessa sighed heavily and turned her gaze back to the remaining riders. She watched the Chief speak to them with a serious face; she could tell they were planning something. "I really don't like to work with larger groups.." Sessa began, "..but I guess it's time to team back up with them, huh."

Viggo couldn't help but laugh lightly as Sessa's intolerance of other people. Even though she considered the dragon riders as her friends now, Sessa did not like to not be in control during a mission. Viggo she could handle, because he trusted her judgement enough to let her lead their team. He found himself reminded all over again of how lucky he was to mean so much to her. Taking her hand, he laced his fingers between hers. Her hand was cold. Not as cold as it used to be, before she had his soul to share, but a more comfortable cold. Together, they approached the other riders.