Heart of a Chief, Soul of a Dragon

Chapter 12

 I held onto Hiccup for as long as possible, trying my best to comfort him, despite my own saddens. Nighttime had fallen, and we had reached the final part of the ceremony to help Stoick pass on into Valhalla. His tears had dried, by this point, but he was like a rag-doll, slumped down and defeated. I brushed aside his hair and ran my hand down the side of his face, and as my hand touched against his cheek, he nuzzled into it with downcast eyes. As I moved it back down, I felt a hand on my shoulder, and looked back to see Gobber looking at me with forlorn eyes.

"Okay." He walked away, and I took Hiccup's other hand and squeezed them. "We have to go Hic." Lazily, he nodded, and we made our way over to the others, each looking just as solemn.

"May the Valkyries welcome you and lead you through Odin's great battlefield. May they sing your name with love and fury, so that we might hear it rise from the depths of Valhalla, and know that you've taken your rightful place at the table of kings."

I was forced to let go of Hiccup's hand as Gobber handed each of us our bows.

"For a great man has fallen." He placed a hand on Hiccup's shoulder. "A warrior. A chieftain." The tears had returned. "A father. A future grandfather. A friend."

With shaking hands, we reached down and dipped our pitch-soaked arrows into the fire. Hiccup was able to draw back his arm, and although I could see there was hesitance, he loosed the arrow and fired it at the boat. The flames began to lick at the wood, and I nodded at the others, signaling them to do the same. I felt pain in my chest as I watched a fire consume the boat, taking a great chief's body with it.

Hiccup reached out for me and pulled me into his embrace, though I knew it was partially for his own comfort. His head leaned against mine as his chest heaved unevenly with sobs. Carefully, I ran my hand up and down his back.

"I'm sorry, Dad," he whispered as he looked out at the boat. "I'm not the chief that you wanted me to be. And I'm not the peacekeeper I thought I was. I... don't know..." He gave up on trying to say something, and as I felt tears starting to rise, I pulled Hiccup tighter against me.

"You came early into this world." We both turned our head as Valka stepped up beside us, stroking some of her son's hair. "You were such a wee thing. Oh, so frail, so fragile. I feared you wouldn't make it. But your father... he never doubted. He always said you'd become the strongest of them all. And he was right. You have the heart of a chief, and the soul of a dragon. Only you can bring our worlds together. That... is who you are, son."

Hiccup sighed and looked back out at the boat, taking a few steps closer to the edge of the land, the vacancy is his eyes slowly filling with a sort of determination.

"I, uh... I was so afraid of becoming my dad," Hiccup admitted to me. "Mostly because I thought I never could. How-How do you become someone... that great, that... brave, that... selfless?" He paused for a moment to re-collect himself. "I guess you can only try." He looked down at me, and as though he were afraid he was going to break me, he rested a gentle hand on my stomach. "Do you think they'll be like me?" I knew he meant the 'weak and frail' part, but I chose not to focus on that.

"I hope so, whether they're a boy or a girl." I moved my hands to rest on the sides of his head. "Because being like you means that they'll be merciful, and passionate... and they'll know that life is precious, no matter who they are." I could feel different tears biting at the back of my throat this time. "Being like you, Hiccup, means that the world is going to love them, and I would be so incredibly proud of them." There was something resembling a smile on his lips, then he lowered his eyebrows, and turned to face the others.

"A chief protects his own. We're going back."

"Uh, with what?" Tuffnut's words were a reminder of our situation.

"He took all the dragons."

"Not all of them." It took me a second, but as soon as I caught the look in Hiccup's eyes, I raised my eyebrows.

"Oh, no, no, no. This is such a bad idea."

"We're out of options, Reign." I shook my head and sighed.

"This really is such a bad idea."

"Come on, everyone."

We followed Hiccup back into the hauntingly empty dragon haven, back through the familiar halls and rock formations until we were back in the large nest, now devoid of every type of dragon... except the babies.

"Everyone hop on." We all looked at each other with suspicion, but we knew this was the only plan we had. I shook my head and climbed up onto one of the baby dragons, who started chattering and tossing. As soon as we were all on, the baby dragons suddenly took off, flapping and wildly flying down the icy corridors. Everyone started whooping and hollering- except for Gobber- and I even found myself smiling.

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!"

"Fly straight!"

"I don't want to die!"

"We can't fly these things!"

"Yeah, no kidding!"

Astrid seemed to have a bit of control over her baby dragon as she pulled up beside Hiccup and I.

"But won't that Bewilderbeast just take control of these guys, too?"

"They're babies!" Hiccup chuckled. "They don't listen to anyone!"

"Yeah, that's a warning for the future!" I shot back.

"Oh, great," he deadpanned. "At least they'll be like their mother!"

"Hey!"

"This is-whoa! - very dangerous!" Gobber shouted as his dragon threw him against the ice. "Some might suggest this is poorly conceived."

"Well, it's a good thing I that I never listen." I scoffed.

"'Like their mother,'" I mocked, throwing his words back in his face. "Whoa!"

"So... what is your... plan?" Gobber's words were chopped up by the chunks of ice we were flying aside.

"Get Toothless back, and kick Drago's-"

"Baby ears!" I shouted, cutting Hiccup off.

"Sorry!"

"Heads up!" We all pulled around the side of the ice and re-congregated. "And that thing." Gobber slammed into an ice bridge, but was thankfully able to shake it off as we made our way out of the icy caverns. As soon as it appeared we were in the clear, Hiccup got as close to me as his baby dragon would allow. "Are you okay?"

"Mm-hmm, we're fine." He smiled at me, and the other rushed past us. "For now, we should be focusing on the dragons." I tried to lean down and rest my elbows on the dragon's back, only to remember that I wasn't riding Shriek, so that wouldn't work. "The other Bewilderbeast's control will only last as long as Drago can command him. So, if we get Drago away from the Bewilderbeast, that gives us an advantage."

Hiccup sat there in silence for a moment, mulling over the options. He only stayed that quiet when he was onto some train of thought and was attempting to develop it, so I waited for whatever he was about to come up with.

"We might not even need to do that." I wasn't quite following, but I trusted him. "I've got an idea, but you all are going to have to cover me."

I nodded. No way was Drago about to take away our dragons.