It Was Always There

The Red Death

Stoick pushed his son into his house and quickly shut the door behind them. Hiccup stumbled and quickly turned around. "I should have known. I should have seen the signs." He said, eye brows furrowed in frustration and disappointment. "Dad-" His father quickly turned to look at him. "We had a deal!" "I know we did...but that was before...ugh, this is all so messed up!" The boy put his hands on his head and shook it slightly. The older man took a step closer to his son, looking for answers. "So, everything in the ring...a trick?! A lie?" The boy looked pleadingly at his father, hoping he'd believe him. "I screwed up. I should have told you before now. Take this out on me, be mad at me, but please..." He reached out toward his father. "just don't hurt Toothless." Stoick quickly turned to him, anger in his eyes. "The dragon? That's what you're worried about? Not the people you almost killed?!" Hiccup was hoping he'd believe him, but it seemed like it was going nowhere. "He was just protecting us. He's not-" "Us? So, Runa knew, too?!" Hiccup flinched and nodded. "She helped me get to know him. She even has-" "After losing her parents to them...she sides with them? They have killed hundreds of us!" Hiccup snapped back. "And we've killed thousands of them!" He then started to explain the raids to his father, unknowing how he would soon regret it.

"They defend themselves, that's all! They raid us because they have to! If they don't bring enough food back, they'll be eaten themselves. There's something on their island, dad...it's a dragon like-" Hearing this Stoick's eyes widened exponentially. He quickly turned towards his son. "Their islands? So, you've been to the nest." Hiccup backed up, looking anywhere but at his father. "Did I say nest?" Stoick advanced on his son a bit, demanding information. "How did you find it?" He backed up a bit before answering. "No... I didn't. Toothless did. Only a dragon can find the island." An idea popped into his father's head and Hiccup knew instantly what his father was about to do. "Oh, no, no. Dad, no! Dad! It's not what you think!" He rushed to his father and grabbed his arm, trying to get him to look at him. "You don't know what you're up against! It's like nothing you've ever seen! Dad, please!" The man pulled away and headed towards the door. "I promise you that you can't win this one! No! Dad, no!" He ran towards Stoick once more and tried to get him to stop, even though it would be completely useless. "For once in your life, would you please just listen to me!" Stoick pushed his son off of him, looking at Hiccup as he now sat on the floor, a bit of shock on his face. "You've thrown your lot in with them. You and Runa. You aren't vikings. You're not my son." He then left the house, slamming the door behind him as he yelled out an order. "Ready the ships!"

Hiccup sat on the floor, looking down at the ground as he held back the tears. His father had practically disowned him just then. A knock on the door was heard and he got up to answer it. Runa was on the other side, a grim look on her face. "Hey, Hiccup." He nodded in return before letting her in, shutting the door behind her. "I saw your dad walk towards the arena with a bunch of vikings with him." Her friend turned towards her as she continued telling him what she saw on her way to his house. He sighed and made a fist, angry at what all had happened. They walked out of the house and throughout the village, noticing how the vikings that chose to stay behind looked at them angrily. Runa gulped and spoke to Hiccup as she watched a few of them try and rush away from them like they had the plague. "They're acting like we're going to attack them." Runa said as she continued to walk with her friend to the cliffs. "Well, we befriended dragons. The things we've been fighting for hundreds of years." Sighing, Runa nodded in understanding.

The two teens stood side by side as they looked down at the docks to see vikings boarding the ships. The girl's shoulders sagging as she watched them drag Toothless onto one of them and lock him down to the deck. "Oh Toothless..." They see Stoick look up at them before yelling out; "Set sail! We head for Helheim's Gate." Before he bent down to say something to the trapped black dragon. As they started to leave, Astrid came over to them and stood beside Hiccup. "It's a mess." She started. "You must feel horrible. You've lost everything." She glanced at the two teens and continued. "Your father, your tribe, your best friend..." Hiccup sighed in slight annoyance. "Thank you for summing that up. But I haven't lost my best friend." He reached over and grabbed said person's hand who in return squeezed back with a sad smile. Astrid rolled her eye and shook her head. "Then I'll say one of them because it looks like you're blind to even yourself." He squeezed Runa's hand a bit more tightly, his free hand doing the same. "Why couldn't I have killed him?" "You mean after you found him?" The boy nodded. "Well, you and Runa are the only ones who didn't while everyone else would have. I mean, he's a Night Fury. They would have become legends. So, why didn't you? Or even you with that Dramillion?" Hiccup was the only one to answer. "I don't know. I couldn't." "That's not really an answer and you know it." The boy groaned in frustration before he let go of his friend's hand and turned towards the other blond. "Why is this so important?" Astrid kept a straight face as she answered his question with ease. "Because I want to remember what you two say, right now."