Chapter Text
Heather’s coming back. Tuffnut hasn’t seen her since they left, even if they’ve sent a lot of Terror mails back and forth. And it’s so, so amazing that she’s coming back, but it’s also kind of a lot for him to think about. Forget the upcoming battle, all he can think about is Heather.
Tuff is positively buzzing when Windshear lands, flanked by Shattermaster. Dagur is hooting with glee and takes off to wrap Hiccup in a definitely smothering hug that the one-legged Viking looks decidedly miserable about.
Heather climbs off her dragon a bit slower, far more reasonably, and Tuff’s heart is doing its happy-sappy fluttery. He’s also kinda really glad to know that even if they’re apart, he still feels the same confusing stuff.
“Hi, Tuff,” Heather greets with an excited smile.
“Hi, uh, Heather,” he fumbles, “Can we hug?”
Heather laughs and wraps him in his requested hug. Ohh, that still feels amazing. “I’ve missed you,” she murmurs, “Well, all of you, really.”
“I’ve missed you, too,” Tuffnut says wholeheartedly.
Ruffnut groans. “Ughhh.”
“Seriously?” Tuff asks over his shoulder. “Like you’re one to talk. You and Hiccup are pretty much all… smoochie smoochie twenty-four-seven.”
“Am not!”
“Are too!”
“We are not!” Ruff huffs. Oh, it’s just their luck they don’t have a triplet named Huffnut who’s as cranky as Ruff is right now.
“I’m glad to know you and Hiccup finally talked,” Heather tells her with a laugh.
“Yeah, you wouldn’t believe how it happened,” Tuffnut nods, “It was like, boom, this whole fancy building fell on Ruff, and she lost her eyes, and her and Hiccup just –”
“’I want you to be the last one I see’,” Snotlout adds, followed by fake kissing sounds and a disgusted shudder.
Tuffnut shudders. That is horrifying.
“That is not what happened!” Ruff yells at him.
“Seriously?” Heather asks.
“Yeah, really,” Ruff gripes, grabbing the girl’s arm and dragging her off, probably in search of Hiccup. “I nearly got hit in the face with a lightning bolt, Hiccup and I talked, and that was basically it. No smoochie, I’m not as gross as Tuff.”
“Yeah. You’re way grosser,” Tuff yells after.
Snotlout laughs. “Great seeing Heather again.”
“Yeha, I need to take note son how to annoy Ruff,” Tuffnut says, “Any advice?”
“Well, I would, but you don’t know how to spell.”
“Au contraire, mon frère, I have excellent grammar!”
“Muttonhead.”
***
“Really?” Tuff asks, befuddled. “’I’ll take that’? Seriously, that’s the best you can come up with?” Someone needs to give Hiccup a serious lecture about anticlimactic climaxes, because this is the craziest and dumbest thing he’s ever heard. They’ve been fighting the biggest, badest villain the known to all of dragons-kind, and Hiccup has absolutely nothing epic or glorious to say?
Hiccup, the expert sass-er?!
“Not to worry, bro,” Ruff nods, “Together, we will concoct something truly amazing for the one Hiccup Haddock to say when he inevitably emerges victorious!”
“Uh, thanks for the confidence boost, guys,” Hiccup says. Why does he look so tired? Is he listening to his own bad catchphrases?
***
The meeting is over, leaving Hiccup feeling… overwhelmed and maybe a little dizzy with anticipation. He’s excited, but he’s also giddy and a little outright terrified, too many whispers rattling in his head. They could have the Dragon’s Eye by the week’s end, and they could take out the dragon hunters for good.
They could also fail. They could be playing right into Viggo’s hand again, and Project Shellfire is still up in the air. Hiccup has no idea what that was, but he doesn’t think Viggo could have any way of preparing for this.
Then again, he should have no way of preparing for half of what he does. But somehow, Viggo always outplays them, and this could be another one of those times. They could still fail, someone could still be hurt, and it’s one of those days where everyone wants to talk to him.
Snotlout somehow roped Dagur off into a conversation, which is the only reason Hiccup’s not being swarmed by him.
He pauses off the main passage of the Great Hall, just to sit by Toothless, and maybe catch his breath, try to get his head on and breathe. “I think I could do with a long flight, bud,” he sighs, leaning on the Night Fury’s scales. “Yeah, I know we need to be resting, and we’ll need it, I just…”
Toothless coos softly and presses his head to Hiccup’s, who sags into I, wrapping his arms around the dragon’s head. He needs that. really.
“Hey.” Tuff has flipped down beside him.
“Let me talk,” Ruffnut says grumpily, pushing her brother out of the way and plopping in the grass beside Hiccup, as if entirely unaffected by the terror of how she nearly went blind a few days ago. That could’ve been permanent, and she would’ve been… well, different. It would be very hard to have a blind dragon rider, even if she shares a dragon. That could’ve been… hard for everyone. “Your plan is great,” Ruffnut promises with a brilliant smile that makes his heart jump and flutter.
Hiccup sighs. “Thanks.” He appreciates it, but everyone’s counting on him in this more than anything before. “And thanks, you guys, for sitting through all this with me. From everything to now.”
Ruff’s eyes narrow suspiciously. “Something wrong? You really have that look.”
She’s gotten better at reading him. Months alone on an island together has changed all of them, made them… closer. Rely on each other more, maybe. It’s a nice feeling.
“Nothing,” Hiccup fumbles, then sighs at Toothless’s suspicious grunt. “Okay, it’s just, this is huge. Berk, the Edge and my dad placing his trust in me. If the mission fails, we could lose the Dragon Eye forever. That could mean the end of the dragons. They could be hunted to extinction. And I can’t let that happen. If something goes wrong, we fail or someone else gets hurt…”
His heart leaps with terror at the thought of… well, anyone, really, being hurt. That death would be on him forever, on his failure, and they’ve already nearly lost a lot of people, barely skimming by and clinging to life every time.
He thinks of Ruff in the fallen, burning stables, coated in ash and stubbornly clinging to life. He thinks of every dragon he’s seen in the times he’s been captured or that they’ve freed, the Quakens and Sleuther, enslaved so long they forgot freedom. He thinks of Astrid, nearly dead from the Scourge. He thinks of Dagur, disappearing into a flash of smoke. And of every single time they’ve fought and nearly lost.
That could be real someday.
“I couldn’t live with myself,” Hiccup finishes quietly.
“But nobody’s gonna get hurt and nobody’s gonna die,” Tuffnut says, falling over Toothless to pat his shoulder. “Look, H, you got a whole army of crazy dragons, and we’ve fought the Screaming Death.”
“You are going to win,” Ruffnut tells him, her hand closing over his. Hiccup squeezes it back. “Because you’re Hiccup, and you’re going to defeat the toughest, most ruthless villain in the world who everyone thought was smarter than you.”
“Really?” Hiccup asks dubiously, “’Everyone’?”
“Well you know, there’s no hard data, but if you had to guess,” Tuffnut offers from Toothless’s other side. The dragon grumbles his direction and nuzzles Hiccup’s side in attempted comfort.
It is true, though. Viggo is smarter than him, and it’s terrifying. Hiccup’s manages to outmaneuver every one of his opponents, no matter how trapped or helpless or terrified he was. Viggo was different, better than the only thing that made Hiccup special, and it was questionably the most terrifying thing he’s ever faced. He could lose someone tomorrow. Or the day after. He just doesn’t want to think about it.
“Not helping, Tuff,” Ruff scowls at him. “Look,” she adds stubbornly, shaking Hiccup’s arm. “You are gonna beat Viggo, and you will have the most perfect cool catchphrase. I’ll figure something out truly glorious.”
“Yeah. Okay, thanks.” It’s crazy, but he could do with a bit more crazy right now. Something to get over the stress. “I guess this’ll be our first mission as… you know…”
“Courters?” Tuff asks, his head popping over Toothless’s again. “Courterteres?”
Hiccup tries to ignore the definite flush of embarrassment heating his cheeks. “Well, uh, yeah, but I wouldn’t –”
Ruff kisses his cheek and hops to her feet. “Great! I’ll work on the catchphrase, and knock some sense into my brother.” She glares at Tuffnut, who shrugs innocently. “You, T, make sure my boyfriend takes an actual nap before we go in blazin’.” She grabs her brother’s wrist and drags him off.
Hiccup watches, heart fluttering. Because, yeah, he and Ruffnut are officially a thing now, and it’s… an amazing feeling. Overwhelming, really a lot to think about, and… well, a lot. But Ruffnut is his girlfriend now.
And he’s got a couple more stops to make before they leave Berk. A stop with his dad, and…
Toothless nudges his side questioningly.
“Not sleeping yet,” he replies, patting the dragon’s head. “I just –”
“Hiccup!”
“Am being ambushed again,” he sighs and accepts Heather’s embrace.
“You did amazing,” she says, “Are you nervous?”
Hiccup laughs, dragging a hand through his hair. “Yeah. I – I – yeah, I am. Okay, I’m nervous. It’s just, if I fail…”
“Let’s not think about that right now,” Heather requests, “Alright? Every war has the risk of failing, but we can’t not fight. So. Ruff said you two…?”
“Ohh.” Hiccup laughs awkwardly. “Yeah, we – we talked.”
Heather’s grinning broadly. “Hiccup, that’s amazing. I’m so happy for you. if thinks work out, I guess that means… we’ll be in-laws?”
“That’d be nice.” A lot, but amazing. “If the twins still live in the same house, does that mean we’d live in the same house?”
“I think it does. Except I’m staying on Berserker right now, so… I don’t know what that would mean.”
“We’ll work it out,” Hiccup promises, “Dagur will understand, I’m sure. We’re already family, Heather.”
She smiles. “Thanks.”
“But, uh, I need to tell my dad about Ruff, and how do you think Stoick the Vast will take me asking if I can make Ruffnut Thorston his daughter-in-law?”
“Just stay strong,” Heather offers with a wince, “You two are meant for each other, I’m sure. I mean, she makes you so happy, and even if the twins can be a bit…”
“Chaotic?”
Heather laughs. “Yeah. But they are more responsible than they look.”
“I know. Ruff’s been kind of my first friend, I just… need to tell my dad.”
“I’ll go with you,” Heather decides, “Just to be safe.”
“I am not objecting moral support. Yours either, bud,” he adds as Toothless scampers forwards. This could either go very well, or absolutely horribly. With his dad, it’s really hard to say, but experience always has Hiccup veering towards the safe side.
***
Stoick laughs.
Hiccup stands there sulking in definite awkwardness.
“Ruffnut?” his dad asks, “As the future Chiefess of Berk?”
“She makes me happy,” Hiccup mumbles, flushing. He swears even his hands are warm. Oh, this is so uncomfortable, why didn’t he talk to his dad about how he felt towards Ruff a long, long time ago? Uh, probably because he knew Stoick wouldn’t be happy, and was also in the mood back then that he didn’t really care. That was before they really got close.
“The twins who start fires, and blow things and vandalize all over Berk?”
“She’s Ruffnut,” Hiccup corrects firmly, “She has a twin, but she’s not her twin. They’re two sperate people, dad.”
“Same dragon,” Stoick says.
“Same everything,” he replies, “But Ruff isn’t Tuff. And they’ve both changed a lot in our time on the Edge. They might blow up their stuff, but they know how to, you know, contain it now. Most of the time.”
“The wonders living in the wild can do to a person,” Stoick says, “We should try that on Gustav.”
“Dad,” Hiccup says flatly, because he seriously needs an, uh, approval maybe? “I just want to know if you…”
“You are serious about her,” Stoick deduces.
“Yes, dad, I am.”
Stoick sighs. “You know, I once hoped you and Astrid would get together.”
“Astrid?” Hiccup asks dizzy. “Wha – why? I don’t even…” Okay, Astrid is terrifying. She means well, but she’s too fiery, too overwhelming. She pushes him into work where Ruff tries to pull him out, and sometimes, he’ll admit, he really does need to breathe. Ruffnut gives him that space. Those streaks of chaos where he just gets to be Hiccup without a care in the world.
Those are all things Astrid makes fun of him for. He doesn’t even begin to see it.
“It was a long time ago,” Stoick replies, “I talked to Astrid about it once.” He did?! “But she’d said your heart was elsewhere, and she didn’t ever see that. So I gave it a rest. Ruffnut’s been a large part of what’s driven me absolutely insane –” He scowls, then sighs. “- but if that’s really what you want, son, I won’t stop you.” Stoick chuckles. “You’ve been really hard to stop, anyway.”
Hiccup huffs a laugh, but still feels elation bubbling in. “Thanks, Dad.”
“Yes, I’m alive,” he tells Heather when he gets outside.
She just laughs.
***
The plan is entirely run amok when they arrive at Viggo’s base to discover the whole thing a mess and deserted, not to mention Viggo in hiding from his own brother.
Ruff would laugh in his face and call him a liar if he weren’t so visibly beat up, and she doesn’t by the dragon hunter Chief would go anywhere unguarded. Idiot really likes his skin. Ruff kinda wants to throw him in a fire.
Tuff agrees and tells him so.
Viggo is smart, but apparently not smart enough to understand what Thorston and Thorston have in store.
Hiccup shoos everybody off of beating Viggo to death or something, even if Ruff’s personal opinion is that it would be a great idea, even her, which she’s sulky about. Viggo hurt them all so much, she really wants to land a blow or two.
Thanks, he tied her to a stupid post and flooded the area with water not long ago. And then everybody nearly died getting her out. She is not happy.
Nobody’s happy, but Hiccup agrees to take the idiot along with them.
Tuff looks devastated to be away from Heather again, but they don’t have time for lengthy goodbyes, and split up quickly. Stoick’s taking Astrid’s rider team to Berk, sending a couple to detour and warn the outcasts. Heather and Dagur are heading back to Berserker to get their people someplace safe, and the remaining riders are heading to the Defenders of Wings.
A loooot of warning to do.
The baby Eruptodon hatched on top of it, and the ‘shell fire’ conveniently attacked right after they arrived. Hiccup sends Fishlegs away with the dragon, but by the time the shellfire is done wrecking the island, they get back to see Viggo gone.
“Real convenient,” Ruffnut scowls, crossing her arms.
“I knew we shouldn’t have brought him here,” Astrid huffs.
“Guys, look, we can’t worry about that right now,” He sighs tiredly. “I can’t believe I fell for it, but… we need to get back to the Edge. We don’t know where the next attack will happen.” He turns to have a few final words with Mala, who only requests they get the Eruptodon somewhere safe, meaning… back to the Edge.
So everybody goes back to the Edge, and Hiccup goes to scan over maps and fuss and worry over where to head next, and Ruff just watches worriedly. This is terrifying, and she hates being afraid, and hates even more how Hiccup’s wearing himself to the ground trying to do all the planning and all the everything, and that for once this isn’t something she can just pull him away from.
“So.” Ruff grabs Hiccup by the arm and drags him into the clubhouse to get a few breaths and maybe-hopefully get his head on straight. “You okay?”
“I’m fine.” He sighs. “Just… misestimating our opponents. I keep thinking Viggo. I gotta start thinking Ryker. We just need to figure out where he’ll come through next.”
“Well, they’re all in the same place, right?” Ruffnut points out, “Inside the archipelago. We can just cut him off.”
Hiccup laughs. “Yeah. Wow, that was easy. Almost too easy – let’s get out there.”
“I got it!” Tuffnut shouts, popping in. “Your catchphrase! You and Ruffnut should go in together! You kick that tent door open with something a lot more fantastic than a simple shove, and say “she’s got the mace, and I’ve got the talons. So Viggo, it’s game over!’”
Hiccup groans.
“Yeah,” Ruff giggles. “This one’s perfect, Hiccup! ‘Game over’! For Viggo, nothing better!”
“Yeah, okay, as far as catchphrases go, that one’s not half bad,” Hiccup replies, climbing onto Toothless’s back. “Come on, let’s get everybody together, we gotta move.”
***
Ryker flags them down and says he has the Dragon’s Eye and doesn’t want a war.
Under the circumstances, Ruffnut actually kinda believes him. Not seeing much a reason not to, anyway. Hiccup takes off to find out what’s blasting berserker Island, alone, and ruff glares after, but she and Tuff have to break off to help, anyway.
Tuff is terrified, and creepy blue-white fire is raining onto his girlfriend’s island, and Ruff likes Heather anyway, so they do go.
Even if being away, knowing her idiot boyfriend is flying right into that spiral of chaos is driving her absolutely batty. They dive in to keep herding people away from the unsteady landscape and into the deep, underground caves below, ducking the still-falling attacks and…
Tuff is talking to Heather, and where Ruff would once have felt glee over destruction, she feels horror seeing the entirety of Berserker leveled in some stupid dragon hunter war. And a new deep, immense hatred for Viggo.
“Guys, we got to head back for the Edge,” Hiccup calls, swooping in, “Regroup, prepare for the next attack. I’m betting that’s where the next attack will be.”
“What’d you find?” Ruffnut yells up to him, yanking Barf up.
“The Shellfire,” he replies grimly, “It’s a tidal class dragon that they’ve somehow chained onto an underground ship. I don’t know how they control it, but –” Hiccup releases a tired sigh. “We gotta get back to Fishlegs. He might have some insight into this.”
Which is how they take the day flight from the Straits of Baldur back to Dragon’s Edge, but no one is really… excited. Having fun is hard, and Ruff’s really seriously starting to hate that feeling.
Heather and Dagur are still in a state of shock, and Dagur’s been hugging her half the ride, and Tuff jumped over for some ‘let’s gross our siblings out’ time. And even in the warmth of the clubhouse, she’s still crying, and Dagur has her in a probably comforting embrace.
Tidal Class, Titan Wing, long range firing – yeah, Ruff checked all those things already. Except the Titan Wing part. But they could really use some help about now?
“Dagur, Heather, I’m sorry about Berserker Island. We all are,” Hiccup says finally, turning away from Fishlegs, who’s still cradling the baby eruptodon.
“At least we managed to save most of our people. But to rebuild…” Heather trails off.
“I’ve been trying really hard to manage my anger, Hiccup. But Viggo? He gots to go,” Dagur replies fiercely.
“Hey, that’s my line!” Snotlout whines.
“Not to bring the mood down,” Ruff speaks up.
“Downer than it already is,” Tuff replies, venturing across the room to pat Heather’s shoulder.
“But what’re we gonna do now? We can’t blow up that ship without blowing up the dragon. We can’t blow up the ship at all! Its dragon proofed.” Wait. “Maybe we can find some Changewing acid?”
But Hiccup isn’t even taking in her brilliant ideas today, he just turns away sighing and shaking his head. “I don’t know what to do,” he admits, “The only thing I do know is we’ve got to find Viggo soon or Ryker and the Dragon Eye could be gone for good.”
“Good luck with that. What do you think Viggo’s going to do? Walk in here and turn himself in?” Snotlout offers.
“Maybe Ryker will give us more time?” Astrid ventures.
“I highly doubt that. I – I just need to clear my head.” Hiccup turns for the doorway.
Ruff wants to offer to come too, but she’s pretty sure that’s a I need some alone-alone time, and when he gets like that, he usually only wants Toothless. If that. “Go ahead,” she offers as helpfully as she can, “No one’ll blow anything up while you’re gone. I’m serious. Go get some Hicctooth time.”
Hiccup nods to her gratefully, and he and Toothless fly out.
Ruff watches him, uneasy and even for. Hiccup’s been through so much. He always knows what to do, but he seems so lost right now and she has absolutely no idea what to say to help. Not even Fishlegs does, and he’s Hiccup’s best friend. They kinda just have to sit this one out. And she feels infuriatingly useless.
***
Tuff is not great at emotions. He wishes the whole world would stop expecting him to be glorious at it, because that is seriously more of a Hiccup-y thing, and Heather just lost her entire island right after she got it.
He’s literally the guy who nearly got all his friends killed just last week… month? Might’ve been month – over grief of losing his mace, and now he could be about to lose all of his friends.
“What about food?” he asks. Everyone stops to look at him. “Hey, I’m just trying to help,” Tuff whines in protest.
“I know,” Heather replies, leaning into her brother’s chest. “And I do appreciate that, Tuff, really. I don’t think any of us can say the right thing right now, really.”
“If we find Viggo, I’ll be more than happy to mace his head off myself,” Tuff offers, “Even if I don’t have a mace. How’s that? Hey, could almost be a cool catchphrase! ‘A mace to the head or –’ why’s everyone looking at me? Come on! It’s gotta be something about maces, right?”
“I rather liked the ‘fire that burns’,” Ruffnut offers, “We should burn something, it might lighten the mood.”
“Guys, that’s what the fireplace is for,” Astrid calls.
“I’ll go get some water. Hey, is that hot or cold?” Ruff offers.
“Warm,” Heather answers, “Thanks, Tuff.”
He does not know how to deal with gratitude. It’s really confusing. He does go to find the drinkable water buckets, though, and yelps when Snotlout yanks the thing away.
“What’re you going to do?” he asks, “Have Barf and Belch spark it? I think Ruff said ‘no explosions’.”
“I did,” she agrees.
Tuff grumbles, but Snotlout’s got a point, and he has Hookfang heat up the bucket a whole lot faster, and they do hand out the stuff to everybody. Tastes amazing. Like he’s forgotten how good water tastes, or something. He could do with a good meal, but no one’s in the mind to eat. Even Snotlout. And he’s always hungry.
They mostly just sit there until Snotlout falls asleep against Hookfang, and everyone starts taking up various sleeping positions. Tuff stays by Heather, and he somehow falls asleep on her shoulder and would’ve stayed there a lot longer if Hiccup hadn’t suddenly shown up again.
With Viggo, no less.
Ruff has to stop him from getting the stake.
***
The twins see Ryker’s ships heading in towards evening. Viggo’s been caged in the stables, and they’ve been keeping him under guard at all times, just to be safe.
And they really, really don’t have long to wait, everyone kicking into full gear as they set up Dragon Edge’s full defenses. Astrid sets the catapults and has her entire arrow system in full gear.
The twins double-check the supply of Monstrous Nightmare gel and Zippleback gas, fortifying as best they can.
Hiccup sends Dagur off to do what he does best, alone – on the back of the island where he knows better than they do, probably.
Heather and Snotlout get to hammering in the Gronckle Iron sheets over everybody’s houses in preparation for the incoming attack. Now that Hiccup thinks about it, they really should’ve made a higher wall and fortress just for this. Would’ve been a lot easier.
And he… worries and watches over everybody.
And when the first ships start getting close, Heather and the twins break off to take them out. Hiccup watches the fire from a distance, but they can’t all exhaust themselves. They all have work to do – he takes over Heather’s place in helping out Snotlout, and gets all the explosive stuff indoors.
The attack comes at dawn, shell fire breaking all across Dragon’s Edge and sending everyone scrambling for cover, dragons and all.
Toothless stays with him, of course, wincing and grumbling from the shaking and banging.
“I know bud,” Hiccup murmurs sympathetically, “This is no fun for me either.” It’s terrifying, actually, never knowing which second the Gronckle Iron won’t be enough to hold against the Shell Fire, and they’ll incinerate. Like Red Death all over again.
The moment the attack’s let up, Hiccup flies for the clubhouse. The others are there within minutes, or less.
“Okay, I'm not sure about you,” Snotlout says fiercely, “But there's no way I'm sitting through that again. We have dragons. We should be out there sinking their ships!”
“The fire isn't coming from the ships, it's coming from the Shellfire,” Hiccup replies pointedly.
And then Viggo walks into the room, because Snotlout let him out of the prison. This guy keeps wriggling out, doesn’t he? Also, Hiccup cannot believe his cousin did something so stupid.
Viggo is still insistent that he can help. Hiccup, for his part, is not interested in hearing anything the man has to say. He leaves Snotlout to babysit, just to make a point, and they fly out.
The armada coming towards them is just about Dagur level crazy.
Astrid hangs back to tweak her flaming arrow catapult, and sets that thing off just once to take out six ships, and the others fly in to give it their all. Once they get through the ships, they reach the Shellfire before it can do any more damage, and hopefully free the thing.
The twins are whooping with glee as they drop a group of barrels of gel and Heather or Snotlout spark them. That seems to be working well, all things considered, but there are just too many ships, and then the Shellfire starts going again.
They’re using massive hammers to make it fire, the same way the hunters did with those quakens.
“Let’s regroup,” Hiccup calls, pulling up. “There’s no way to control it without hurting it.”
“We might not have a choice,” Astrid replies.
“No,” Hiccup replies fiercely. They are not going to hurt this creature that’s already being hurt. “There's gotta be another way.”
“We’ll figure it out,” Ruff calls. “Like with a nice and heavy dose of Changewing acid!”
“She’s right,” Heather agrees, “Not about the Changewing acid, but about figuring it out.”
“What? It’ll work!”
And in comes Snotlout, having left Viggo in the flaming stables.
Hiccup only sees one option right now, and he already knows this is gonna be the worst one in his life.
“Hope this isn't the biggest mistake of our lives, bud,” he murmurs to Toothless, diving back in for the stables.
***
“Okay, I’m confused,” Snotlout says noisily, “You said keep him in his cell!”
“Yeah, are we really trusting Viggo to be on the loose, especially now?” Astrid demands.
Ruff would punch her if it was anybody who wouldn’t take her hand off. “Hey, he’s Hiccup,” she scowls, “Trust him.” For as nuts as it is, Hiccup’s the one who’s pulled them through thick and thin until now, and she’d trust him with anything. Even if she’d much rather graphically murder Viggo than trust a word that man says. She will not ever forget what he put them through.
“Well, if Viggo can help figure out how to stop this attack,” Hiccup replies, “Then we’ve got to try.”
Viggo. The Viggo who tried to drown them all a few weeks ago, who enslaved so many dragons and hurt them over and over and over, who has a creepy personal interest in Hiccup that has Ruff want to bash him over the head with Macey even worse – and they’re gonna have to trust him.
She does not like this either, but this is Hiccup, and she’ll trust whatever choice he makes.
“This makes no sense,” Snotlout whines, “You can’t toy with my emotions like this! I’m too fragile.”
“Eew,” Tuff says for no reason. Heather side-eyes him, but doesn’t pull away from where he’s got one arm looped around her. Ruff tries not to think gross and lets her brother be for the minute – he never gets to be with Heather anymore, anyway.
“I don’t mean to throw the questions in the air right now,” Heather concurs, “But Astrid’s kind of right. How do we know we can trust him? What if it’s a trap?”
“Then we just walked into it,” Hiccup replies, heading for Toothless again. “But I’m making this call. Viggo and I are gonna take this thing down.”
Ruff blows out a tired, worried breath. “Good luck.”
“Wow,” Tuffnut says from beside her, “Never thought I’d hear those names in one sentence.”
“In regards to anything other than Viggo being completely creepy,” Ruffnut concurs with a scowl. “Come on. Let’s follow them out there in case they need backup.”
“Agreed,” Heather seconds, “Let’s get out there.”
Considering Ruff is still not entirely certain Viggo wasn’t actually planning to stab Hiccup before her and Tuff showed up yelling, it’s a definite good thing they went. Really can never trust the guy.
She’s a nut, but she’s not stupid.
***
Barf and Belch are diving and swooping all over the place with all the other dragons, and everything’s great and all until they start toppling off. Tuff is clinging to Belch’s horns and then the Zippleback is overturned and he splashes into the water.
Heather is next to him, clinging to the debris of a ship to stay afloat. Everyone is exhausted. They’ve been fighting straight for hours, and doing a run around the archipelago for days before hand.
Snnotlout’s in the water, too – and the Shellfire prepares to fire, only to finally be knocked off-course by a submaripper.
Everybody scrambles for their dragons. Except Heather gets a ride on Barf again, which is an absolutely amazing feeling. He doesn’t want to replace Ruff with her anymore – having a sister actually is pretty cool, took about for years for him to figure that out, but Hiccup was right. He’s always right – but it sure is great to fly with her again.
“Hey!” Ruffnut shouts, dangling from one of Windshears’s claws.
“Sorry, Ruff,” Heather calls sheepishly.
“Nah. We’re great,” Tuffnut tells her gleefully, “C’mon, Heather. We should get used to joint-flying anyway. I’m sure you and Ruff can take turns. Sis looks great with a Razorwhip anyway.”
“Heard that,” Ruffnut grumbles, “If you’re being all ew, I’m gonna fly back to the Edge and check on Hiccup.”
“What’s with that?” Snotlout asks, “Is she gambling, too?”
“What?” half the riders chorus, confused.
“What? You can’t tell me Hiccup doesn’t have a gambling problem! I mean, trusting Viggo? There’s something seriously wrong with this guy.”
Heather laughs, looking over at Tuffnut, who just shrugs. Nsotlout is many levels of complex and confusing.
***
Hiccup should’ve guessed dropping Viggo off was a mistake. But they had nowhere else to watch him, and he couldn’t keep him contained all that time. It’d just been battle, and he hadn’t been thinking about Viggo’s words about his relationship with Ruffnut nearly enough.
He’d just been thinking, at least the Submaripper got the Shellfire freed, and at least it cleaned up most of the ships and everyone attacking, and at least all those deaths weren’t on Hiccup – so many people died, dragon hunters or no, and Berk is safe and Dragon’s Edge is safe, even if the volcano is smoking and Fishlegs is still worrying over the baby eruptodon which he’d gotten to eat the lava that just started spilling down the volcano’s side.
And, of course, how Dagur bonded with Sleuther and somehow got to ride him, and how Hiccup finally called him ‘brother’ without even thinking and how naturally the word slipped off his tongue. And he does, no matter how much they’ve been through, love Dagur.
Honestly.
He is family.
What he was not, by any means, counting on, is as he turned away from Toothless as both of them murmur in relief about the nightmare being over, only to see Viggo, smirking, with an arm around Ruffnut and a sword blade to her throat.
She has a few bruises. So does he.
She fought.
Viggo still won, and where are Tuff and their dragon!? Barf and Belch never let Ruff out of their sight – okay, usually.
But he can’t think, is only staring, wide-eyed at Viggo holding his girlfriend at sword point.
He should’ve seen this coming a mile away, should’ve kept Ruff as far from this as possible.
“Let me guess,” he says, voice icy with his fury. “You want the Dragon Eye in exchange for Ruff.”
“Though it sounds so much colder when you say it like that. But, yes,” Viggo replies mildly, as if after all this time and how Hiccup risked his life to trust him, and did trust him, wasn’t enough to change anything. Some people don’t change. But he is so, so angry, and Ruff is scowling fiercely. “While I do appreciate your assistance in putting brother in his rightful place, I must insist that you return it to where it belongs. With me.”
“Uh, yeah, no,” Ruff says loudly, “That thing is far too fun to play with.” Viggo yanks her tighter, and Hiccup’s heart freezes. His entire body feels cold. He wants to tell Toothless to fire, but not even he would be fast enough. “And for the record,” she continues, “You do not give very good hugs.” Moving would get her killed. That’s the only reason she isn’t. And Hiccup doesn’t have a choice.
Not like he ever, really, has choices with Viggo.
He turns to Toothless’s saddle, lifting the object that once held all of his hopes and dreams, the future that he always wanted.
“Come now,” Viggo crows when he hesitates. “Are you really going to sacrifice your future, all the wonderful years you have ahead of you… for that?”
Hiccup’s gut clenches tightly. Dread is smothering him. That’s Ruffnut’s life. He can’t gamble with it, can’t gamble with the life of the first friend he ever had.
He looks down at the Dragon’s Eye again. Fingers clasp over it in a white knuckled grip. The thing that brought him and Ruff back together, that gave them their future. He is not giving this thing to Viggo. He’s not sacrificing the lives of so many dragons just to get Ruffnut back – even if she means so much.
The Dragon’s Eye, for all it means, is replaceable.
Ruffnut is not.
“Wow, Viggo. Well, I guess when you put it that way, no, I'm not!”
And he flings the thing as hard as he can, throwing the thing far past Viggo’s shoulder towards the volcano’s gaping opening right below. Viggo releases Ruff and runs after. The Dragon’s Eye goes down. Viggo falls after.
Hiccup sprints to the volcano’s side, but Viggo’s already fallen, too. He’s gone. “It didn’t have to end this way,” he murmurs looking down into the bubbling lava.
“Wow.” Ruffnut is standing a few feet behind him. “You didn’t have to do that for me.”
Hiccup sighs. “I couldn’t let him kill you. Look, the Dragon’s Eye is replaceable, Ruff. You aren’t.” It sounds sappy to say that aloud, but the truth is the truth.
“Oh. Aww.” She looks a little startled and flushes a little. “Well, uh, thanks. That’s touching.”
Viggo is dead, for good. That should be relieving, and it really, really is, but Hiccup also feels… a strange amount of grief. He’s just… gone. And yes it’s good, probably for everyone, but there’s never a time death isn’t sad.
He’ll never get a chance to change. Not that Hiccup’s entirely sure he would have anyway. (Some people don’t change.)
“So, uh, does that mean the chaos is over?” Ruff asks.
“Yeah. O-of course.” Hiccup hopes it’s over, but he really doesn’t – well, it should be. Viggo’s dead. The dragon hunters should fall apart. “This is what we’ve been trying to get since we came out here. I thought I’d feel better about it.”
Ruffnut pats his arm. “Don’t worry, we’ll find something else cool to blow up! It just matters how ya look at it, and I’m sure we’ll see something cool again!”
Hiccup smiles back at the attempted reassurance. “Yeah. I’m sure we will, and, Ruff? Thank you. For everything.”
“Except getting kidnapped. That’s on me,” she replies with a huff. “I should’ve thrown that jerk down a pit.”
Hiccup laughs. “Okay, no, I’m just – just glad you’re okay right now, alright?”
“Yep!” Ruffnut chirps with a bright smile, and they kiss.
The moment, as amazing as it is, is interrupted with a soft sigh from someone, flapping wings and Hiccup pulls back at the sudden sensation of everybody watching them.
“This,” Snotlout says slowly, staring.
“Changes –” Fishlegs.
“…everything,” Astrid says slowly, the only one wide-eyed and surprised.
Everybody else looks happy.
And that’s Tuffnut and Heather climbing off Barf and Belch. Windshear is beside them, rider-less.
Ruff and Heather must’ve swapped dragons.
And then the whole group is hugging him and Ruff as he blinks on in startled surprise.
“I knew that one was coming,” Astrid says with a laugh. Fishlegs just whoops and giggles.
And Hiccup, for once, even standing right next to a volcano as heat and lava are right behind and where the smoke and the lava fumes are almost too much to handle – is happy.
“I’m so happy you guys finally decided to talk about your feelings,” Heather says, smiling broadly.
“Yeah, me too,” Tuff agrees, and seriously, is he crying?!
“Okay, gang. Once more around the island. Let's make sure the Edge is secure.”
And they take off, Hiccup’s fingers still intertwined with Ruff’s ‘til they split and climb onto their separate dragons. He came so close to losing her – again. He wishes he’d be able to stay closer to her, that he could stop worrying, stop… everything. But maybe they can, now that they’re together, and the world knows about him and ruff, and the dragon hunters are gone for good.
The dragons fly off and away, twirling and gliding over their home.
They’re finally at peace.
And behind them, the long-feared volcano finally erupts.