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Fishlegs still can hardly believe that the Dragon Eye is gone. That’s what brought them out to the Edge in the first place and now it’s gone. They’ve never seriously lost a fight before, not like this. He knows it could happen, of course, but he just can hardly believe it did.
And he still feels unreasonably violated that someone literally went through all their things on the Edge while they were gone, even if nothing was actually taken. But the fact that people got on here to do that while they were gone and knowing it could easily happen again is just… unsettling, to say the least.
Normally right now, he’d probably be tinkering with the Dragon Eye and now that he can’t, it’s really all he can think about. Normally, he’d be with Hiccup somewhere, and they’d…. And where is Hiccup, actually?
Meatlug whines softly, nosing at him, obviously picking up on his mood shift.
“I’m okay, girl,” Fishlegs promises with a sigh, “I just can’t believe this happened. Come on, let’s go over to Hiccup’s.” He’s got to be as upset about this as Fishlegs himself is.
They try flying over to Hiccup’s house but he’s not there. He’s not down at the Forge, either. But while they’re out flying, he finally spots Hiccup and Toothless, sitting out on the edge of a cliff, overlooking the water.
Fishlegs has Meatlug fly over, landing next to them.
“Hey,” Hiccup offers tiredly, not even managing a smile.
“Hey,” Fishlegs supplies in greeting, going to sit next to him. He always knows what to say when he’s with Hiccup but right now… he just doesn’t.
Hiccup shifts a little, turning to stare back out over the water.
Out to where the Dragon Eye is lost to Thor knows where and Fishlegs has no idea if they’re ever going to get it back.
And out to where Heather is, still alone because she left again and…. she might’ve sent him a letter, but it also very specifically had a request that he not tell the others about it. He’s really hoping to maybe give it a couple weeks and then ask her again if he can tell them because that doesn’t feel very nice when he knows the others are all worried about her. But he doesn’t want her to stop talking to him, either. Then none of them will be able to make sure she’s okay.
Hiccup’s fingers dig in the dirt and he flings a rock over the cliff edge. It bounces down and out of sight.
That was… well, vert uncharacteristically aggressive for Hiccup.
Toothless whines softly, nosing Hiccup’s side and his rider reaches out to pet him briefly, sighing quietly.
“Uh,” Fishlegs offers, “Are you okay? I mean, I don’t think any of us are okay right now, but…”
“I can’t believe I walked us right into Viggo’s trap,” Hiccup replies, sighing. He looks thoroughly exhausted.
“None of us saw any of that coming,” Fishlegs points out tentatively.
“I know but I’m your leader. I should have seen it coming. And in the end, I brought the Dragon’s Eye right to him. At least they don’t have a way to use it or I would have doomed every dragon out there.”
Fishlegs is not really good at being positive. Sometimes, he thinks his mind just frantically runs through all the worst possible scenarios and that’s all it’s doing right now but that’s probably really not going to help.
“We might still find a way to get it back,” he offers, even if he frankly has no idea how they ever would.
“We haven’t even seen any of the hunter ships anymore when we’ve been out flying,” Hiccup replies.
Yeah, they haven’t.
Which is good because it means they don’t have to keep fighting but it also means they certainly have no way of getting it back.
“I was really hoping that once the fighting finally stopped, we’d get to just focus on learning all the information the Dragon Eye had,” Fishlegs says and he knows it’s really not going to help lift the mood by saying that but it’s all he can think about. He’s admittedly downright miserable too.
“Me too,” Hiccup admits, looking over at him, “But sometimes it seems like all we ever end up doing is fighting another war.”
“I know. I really wish it would stop happening.” It happened when they were young too and he really wishes it would just stop. He wishes that everything could just be happy for once.
Hiccup nods a little, looking back out over the sea. He’s quiet for a really long time, long enough that Fishlegs didn’t actually think he was going to say anything else, but then he does. “This probably sounds stupid,” he mumbles finally, “But dragons are the only future that I’ve ever wanted.”
“I do get that,” Fishlegs supplies, “I mean, it’s always amazing to get to study new types of dragons. I really forgot that feeling after we stopped doing it for so long. It was kind of fun to get to teach the younger children about everything we learned but getting to see new dragons like we do out here is amazing too.”
He could never regret coming out to the Edge but the peace of being on Berk all those years is something he misses a little. Though, maybe they are about to have peace out here too – just with the Dragon Eye gone. So, that makes it really hard to appreciate.
Hiccup shifts closer to Toothless, head leaning against his side. Toothless purrs softly, eyes wide and worried.
“I never had what you did back on Berk,” Hiccup blurts, “I know all of you were happy there, but I was…” He trails off.
“You weren’t?” Fishlegs asks, frowning.
He shrugs, not really looking at him.
“I mean,” Fishlegs goes on, when Hiccup doesn’t elaborate, “I know it was really different once we stopped studying dragons but….” The truth is after they left the Dragon Training Academy, he really stopped spending nearly as much time with Hiccup, even if he really missed it. He really does have no idea how he was doing all these years. Not really. He just assumed he was fine and had a lot going on, the same way they all did. “You had preparing to be chief duties, right?”
“That’s the thing,” Hiccup mutters, fidgeting. “That’s not really me, Fishlegs. That’s not what I want. The Dragon Eye was…. I guess it made me realize that the future I always wanted with dragons was possible, after all. And now it’s gone.”
“Oh,” he offers quietly. He really doesn’t know what to say to that. He just knows it’s strange to see Hiccup looking so lost. Trying to reassure him that everything will be fine when none of them know that would hardly help, either. “Well, we can still stay out here to study dragons, even without the Dragon Eye. It might not be as fun but…”
“I know,” Hiccup replies, offering him a tiny smile that looks more tired than anything else.
Toothless noses at him again.
Meatlug crowds in closer next to Fishlegs and he wraps an arm around her neck, clinging to her.
Neither of them say anything else for a long time. There really isn’t much they can say, is there?