Chapter Text
Chapter 4: Right Where You Should Be
Fishlegs entered the destroyed library building cautiously and was surprised to see that the building hasn’t collapsed completely on the inside, just a few scattered books that have dislodged themselves out of their shelves and a couple of burnt loose planks on the ground.
The day was already over and they were no closer to finishing than they were starting. Fishlegs sighed to himself and brought it upon himself that he should put the books back to where they belong, it would at least give him some peace of mind that something was fixed at least. After some time doing this Fishlegs found himself thinking back to that early morning.
“Do you have everything? Clothes, food, weapons? I even packed an extra pair of-”
Fishlegs, sweetie, I’m fine, we’ve brought everything we needed and besides we won’t be long anyways, its just a week…or two.
Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Heather, Fishlegs and Snotlout were at the docks saying there farewells to each other because Odin forbid this could be the last time they see each other. What with Tuffnut and Snotlout going to dragons nest, who knows what they would find.
“I know I’m just worried, but I know that you’ll come back to me, like you’ve always have.” Fishlegs admitted. Heather smiled at his devotion and she couldn’t help but hug him.
Tuffnut made gagging noises which earned him a snort from Snotlout and a mean right hook from his twin sister.
“Arg, you half-troll! I hope your face gets burned off by a Scaldron!”
“Uh-huh, I’ll be sure to watch myself then”, Ruffnut said to him casually.
“Wha? Didn’t you hear me? I said I hope you die a horrible death!”
This time Ruffnut didn’t even look at her brother, “I love you too bro” and with that she walked toward the boat that they will be sailing in.
Tuffnut looked confused and turned to Snotlout, “How does she keep doing that?”
Snotlout shrugged to his friend and looked at him knowingly, “Women, am I right?”
After saying this he spotted Astrid walking toward the docks and took it as his cue to gather his troops and prepare to set sail as well to leave on their journey.
“Took you long enough, I take it Stoick gave you a bit more trouble than you had initially thought?” Ruffnut asked her, Fishlegs had noticed recently that she had been the only viking brave enough to talk to her casually, just like when they were younger. It was a good change of pace for Astrid, Fishlegs thought, it was better than being treated like glass anyways.
Astrid placed her sack of belongings on the ship and returned to Fishlegs, “Do you have the thing that I asked for?”
Knowing what she meant, Fishlegs produced a sword hilt that was hanging from his belt and gave it to Astrid. “Do you remember how to use it?” Fishlegs asked her.
Astrid gripped the familiar hilt, weighing it on her hand. It was a lot lighter than what she was used to, but then again she wielded a double-sided axe that was bigger than her head.
“Of course I do, it has a double-click mechanism on both sides, on one side it releases Monstrous Nightmare gel that coats the sword, Astrid clicked the button and the hilt did as she said it would, setting the sword on fire, which garnered a lot of attention from other vikings who were passing by.
“Another click retracts the sword into the hilt, the other side releases Zippleback gas.” But before she demonstrated it though, she opened a sliding door on the side of the hilt and released an empty container housing monstrous nightmare gel and replaced it with another container holding Zippleback gas. Once it was in place, she flipped the hilt so that the bottom was facing upward, clicked the button, which she released the gas at her feet, clicking the button again sparked the gas making it combust in a trail, like a spark following a fuse.
The night which was noisy despite there being a lack of dragons was silent once again because of her use of Hiccup’s sword that he called “Inferno.”
It was strange to see it in action again, Fishlegs thought it was strange for them to keep on using his inventions despite Hiccup’s demise a decade ago.
Fishlegs was pulled out of his thoughts when his foot kicked a book across the stone floor of the library. Fishlegs quickly went to recover the book and place it were it belonged, until the cover of said book made him stop short of doing just that.
O0o000o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
“Where did, Valka go wrong?”
It had been a long day for the citizens of Berk and they had retired to the mead-hall to receive their well deserved meal. Gustav was in the middle of explaining the do’s and don’ts of combat roles to his already weary team. How Gustav had the energy to talk their ears off, they had no idea.
Valka rolled her eyes, knowing Gustav he probably meant it as a joke, but it came off rather critical in other people’s ears, but she didn’t mind and answered him anyways.
“I brought the bola launcher when I wasn’t supposed to and I didn’t follow orders when I was supposed to.”
Hearing this for the first time, Helga stopped eating and paused to look at Valka in astonishment, never before had she seen her friend act bravely.
Knowing the all too familiar look on her friends face, Valka smiled to Helga and nodded to her, “I’ll tell you later.”
Helga was about to say something, but the sound of doors opening interrupted her before she could.
Stoick and Alvin had decided to make their appearance, they went over to the table where Gobber was sitting at, but thought better of it when they saw that he was sitting with Brynhild. Not looking for another verbal exchange with her, Stoick went and sat at another table leaving Alvin to sit with the others.
The room had fallen silent. Ever since his demotion to the auxiliary unit, but that didn’t stop Gustav, “Where did Stoick go wrong?”
Spitelout spoke up first, “Uh, he showed up?” giggles could be heard from his two brothers after the comment.
“He’s never where he should be.” A series of “ooooo’s” was followed
“Thank you, Bryhild.” Gustav saw Fishlegs approach their table and decided it was his cue to give the stage to the larger viking.
“Okay gang, I checked the library for the damages done and I’ve noticed that you haven’t gotten into the houses on the docks yet, how are we doing with the repairs?
Stoick averted his gaze away from the elder viking quickly, knowing why it was taking them so long to get started was all his fault.
Gustav rubbed at his neck sheepishly, “We got… sidetracked, turns out it’s difficult to teach a beginner under these circumstances, looking over to, Stoick, he had bowed his head bashfully, not wanting to make eye contact with the elder viking. Gustav sighed at that and took a deep breath, grabbing Fishleg’s attention.
I’m requesting he be reinstated and be put back to the defense unit with Gobber and Bryhild.”
Everyone, including Stoick looked to Gustav shocked at what he had said. Everyone had their part to play and if everyone isn’t capable of doing it, it would be counter productive and would put everyone in danger.
Fishlegs considered Gustav’s request, it was a smart choice and he would be a fool to not accept, but first and foremost it was Astrid who issued the punishment to Stoick, so if it was anyone’s decision it would be Astrid.
Fishlegs fished for the Dragon manual, he couldn’t help himself and brought it along with him, and brought it out for all of them to see. “This is the dragon manual. It holds everything we know about every dragon we know of, each has it’s strengths, weaknesses and class type.” Fishlegs looked directly at Stoick “Just like you, you have your limitations and right now you are exactly where you should be.
Thunder began to rumble outside of the mead hall and everyone began to clear out, getting ready to go back home. Stoick was the last one to leave, it had already started pouring outside when he came back to his senses. Looks like it wasn’t going to be that easy.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0oo0
This was a bad idea Hiccup thought to himself as he jumped from roof top to roof top in the dark, wet air that is Berk. Hiccup needed access to the forge to craft Toothless another tail so that they can get airborne again and continue on with their mission. But the task proved to be trickier than he thought it would. Hiccup made two wrong turns and was almost caught before he found his bearings and was currently making his way toward his destination.
Hiccup couldn’t help the nauseous feeling emanating from his belly as he jumped from one building to the next. It reminded him of the event that happened years ago. Except instead of getting captured he would probably be executed on the spot without a second thought. This feeling helped Hiccup make decisions that would’ve costed him his life and he didn’t ignore the feeling whenever he felt it. But Hiccup decided it was a calculated risk he was taking in order to achieve his goal.
He let another guard pass by him and jumped down from the roof top and entered the empty forge. Fortunately, it was still lit, rather whoever was manning the forge had carelessly left it unattended and the fire was still roaring with life. Hiccup stayed close to the fire to regain his body heat before removing his helmet from his head and put it on a nearby stool.
Hiccup looked around the forge a strange sensation overtook him and as his senses were filled with nostalgia he let his instincts guide him to tools and appliances he would need to start working.
He needed to hurry and create the parts he needed to create Toothless’s new tail prosthetic. He grabbed the apron knocking over a few boxes of paper and tools in the process and set to work grabbing everything he needed.
It has been too long since he entered this place and sure he had a forge back were he came from, but he didn’t feel at home like he was here.
Returning from the storage room out back, Hiccup reentered the forge to start working, he figured the rain and the thunder will cover his loud hammering and he can work without anyone discovering him.
That was until he felt an unfamiliar presence standing in the forge.
She was a skinny little thing, with brown hair and blue eyes, holding his helmet in her small, pale hands.
She had the same look that Hiccup was sporting on his face, one of surprise and horror combined.
Hiccup really hated being right…