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Hiccup gazed at his sister and what he could see of her face in the moonlight, and wondered how things could have been different had the both of them not been made aware that they were siblings.
But they had been made aware, and Hiccup was the one to fault for that. (Or Toothless, if one was really looking to place blame. He'd been the one going through Heather's things, had been the one to reveal the horn with Stoick's crest on it.)
But Hiccup had been the one to go to his father with the burning question that had nearly driven him mad on the flight to Berk.
"Dad… Is Heather my sister?"
And, well, the answer had been yes.
Now here they were, having a meeting about Viggo Grimborn and the Dragon Hunters: Hiccup, Astrid, and his sister Heather. He felt like it was difficult to trust her, after the way she'd broken his heart when joining the Dragon Hunters to spy on them, and without telling him no less. To Hiccup, it had looked exactly like she'd sided with her other brother Dagur, and the awful people like Ryker he'd decided to align himself with.
Hiccup was glad that he wasn't related to Dagur by blood, at least.
And yet part of Hiccup still cared. He cared about Heather despite his tumultuous feelings regarding her, despite the mess they'd made again and again.
"Heather, this is too dangerous," Hiccup said.
"But I've got Viggo right where I want him," Heather countered. "Right where you want him."
Hiccup put his hand to his chin, thinking. He glanced at Astrid, who stood beside him, seeming much more open to the idea than Hiccup.
Hiccup didn't want to ask about why they should trust her, but the words came out nonetheless, tasting foul on his tongue.
"How do I know I can trust you?"
"What?" Heather asked incredulously. She put her hands on her hips, now looking like she was ready to fight him physically. Her eyes shone with green flame, the same green as Hiccup's.
"After everything I've done for you?!" Heather went on, tone scathing, nearly making Hiccup flinch. "After everything I've risked to get this far?!"
Meanwhile, Astrid gaped at Hiccup. "You can't be serious!"
Hiccup threw up his arms. "What? We have nothing to go on but her word, something that oftentimes isn't truthful!"
"I'm putting myself and Windshear at risk for you!" Heather yelled. "And this is how you repay me?!"
"I never asked you to do this!"
It took a moment for Hiccup to realize that he was very suddenly on the ground, the cool grass beneath his right cheek. His left cheek ached.
"Heather!" Astrid cried as Hiccup laid there for a moment and tried to get his bearings. She'd punched him, apparently, and quite hard at that.
"I thought family was supposed to be there for each other, Hiccup," Heather growled, looming over him.
He sat up, rubbing his cheek, that comment biting deep. "Oh yeah?" He scrambled up to stand now. "Then why did you let the Hunters torture my—our—friends?! Why did you lead me on with this whole undercover business instead of just telling me?!"
Heather scoffed. "You're a terrible liar, Hiccup. You would have blown my cover!"
"Oh, so telling Astrid wouldn't have?" Hiccup gestured to her, though she was now standing beside Heather, a hand on her wrist like she was afraid she was going to punch him again. Hiccup had to admit that he was worried about that too.
Heather yanked her arm from Astrid's grip. She let out a wordless yell of frustration, turned her back, and stomped away as far as the sea stack would allow.
Guilt struck Hiccup like an arrow. He didn't want to push his only blood related sibling away, but hadn't she done that to him? They'd grown up apart, and she'd instantly left when finding out they were both fathered by Stoick. She'd abandoned him.
And after all the times Hiccup had been rejected and abandoned in his life? Well? It hurt.
His groan as he rubbed at his cheek was more about the emotional pain of all this rather than the physical. Though, Heather could hit hard, and he knew she'd been holding back too.
"I messed this up," Hiccup murmured to Astrid, who didn't seem to know who to go to—stuck in the middle.
"Well, fix it or else this plan won't work!" Astrid hissed. "We need to take down the Dragon Hunters! And preferably without you two bickering like children!"
Hiccup sighed. He looked across the gap between him and Heather. It loomed dangerously, seeming to grow deeper in the darkness the longer he looked at it.
It was frightening in a way he hadn't experienced before. He'd gone through some horrible, terrifying things in his life, but the thought of talking honestly with a sister he'd gone 18 years not knowing was paralyzing him.
He could feel Astrid and all the dragons watching him, waiting for him to make some sort of move. Toothless gave a reassuring coo and then nodded towards Heather.
Lowering his hand from his face and the beginnings of bruising there, Hiccup took the first, unsure step towards his sister. And then the next step. The sea stack was flat, but it felt a little like going down hill, a steep hill he couldn't stop himself from traversing. He was tumbling towards Heather no matter how hard he wanted to try not to. Inevitable.
For a moment, he stood next to her in silence, looking at the sky, the ocean, the way the moon turned the crests of the blackened waves to silver.
Hiccup was surprised when they both spoke at the same time.
"Heather, I'm sorry. I—"
"I shouldn't have punched you—"
They glanced at each other, falling into silence.
"Y-you go first," Hiccup said. He wanted to show that he could trust her, that she was worth trusting. Because, well, he could be wrong about his distrust of her. He probably was!
Heather, gripping her elbows, turned to him with a sigh. Her stance was still closed off. He couldn't blame her for that.
"I shouldn't have punched you," she said. "It was just… a lot." She gave a weary shrug. "Windshear and I have been through so much—have done so much—for you that hearing that you don't trust me all the way hurt."
"I… know," Hiccup said carefully. "I-it's not fair of me. I'm sorry."
"But I didn't think of all you've gone through too. Or what your friends have gone through."
Hiccup, feeling brave, placed a hand on her shoulder, and she let him keep it there. His hold wasn't tight: he wanted her to know it was safe to reject his touch.
She didn't. Instead, she placed one of her own hands over his.
"Life hasn't exactly gone easy on us, has it?" She gave him a wry smile with those words.
Hiccup couldn't help but laugh a little, and he found that it diffused some of the tension.
"It-it really hasn't." Hiccup didn't know about everything in Heather's past, but he didn't need to to respect her. If she wanted to keep her hurt to herself, then he would allow her to do that. Besides, it wasn't like he'd shared absolutely everything with her either. It was hard to know where to start when there was a lifetime to catch up on.
"So, are we gonna work together on this?" Heather asked.
"We are," Hiccup replied. The words had his gut suddenly twisting. He hated having her in this position, so close to Viggo, so close to someone who could figure her out and hurt her… or worse…
"You don't like it though," Heather said after a moment of searching his eyes.
Hiccup pulled his hand away, scratched at the back of his neck, a nervous habit. "No, I don't. It's dangerous, Heather. What if you get caught?"
"Well, I mean, I haven't been caught yet," Heather said. "And Viggo seems to trust me."
Hiccup wanted to ask exactly how she'd gained that trust, but he felt like he knew the answer, and the feelings that gave him were… unpleasant, to say the very least.
Heather returned to the middle of the sea stack to stand by Astrid, then gave Hiccup an odd look when he didn't move to follow.
"Are we gonna make a plan, or what?" Heather pressed him.
Hiccup blew out a long breath through his mouth. The nerves made him want to tug on his hair, but he managed to refrain from doing so. Instead, he nodded and walked over.
"Yeah, yeah we are."
Astrid eyed the both of them. "And we're not going to hit each other about it, right?"
Hiccup and Heather both giggled, even as Hiccup's cheek throbbed from where she'd punched him.
"No, no hitting," Heather confirmed. She gave Hiccup a light shove in the shoulder. "I don't know if this one can stand much more of it."
Hiccup couldn't help but give her a playful shove in return. "I can handle plenty, thank you." He cleared his throat after straightening, Heather giving him a mischievous smile. "But we need to focus. We need to make sure Viggo has no idea what even hit him."
"Well," Astrid said, "luckily that can be arranged."