Chapter Text
“Dad, is Heather my sister?”
———
“My love, I am sorry that it has come to this.”
“You know that there’s nothing we can do. We’ll just have to have faith that everything will turn out for the best.”
“There should be a way to get you out of this.”
“But there isn’t. Come on, let's not make this final night one of mourning. I want you to hold me until they arrive.”
“We can still run away.”
“You know that will never work.”
“I know, but it didn’t stop me from hoping. Come. Let’s make the most of tonight.”
———
Hiccup could feel the muscles of Toothless’ shoulders straining as he pushed himself through the air, propelling them forward. A particularly tight turn made him grit his teeth as he forced himself to realign his grip in order to not get thrown backwards. His hair was ruffling fiercely against the back of his neck and ears, while plastered straight over his forehead as he forced himself not to hide behind the back of Toothless’ head.
He didn’t have time to waste.
“Almost there, bud,” he whispered to Toothless, though he doubted even he could hear anything apart from the fierce roaring of the wind.
He cast his eyes down to look around and sucked in a quick breath of urgency when he spotted the ship. “Quick, Toothless! Get us down there now!”
Toothless dived, low and smooth across the surface of the water. The familiar sound of a nightfury screeching caused the tense and murderous-looking party onboard to flicker their eyes towards him, but they were otherwise engaged. Heather had Dagur (his absolute favourite person ever!) at the end of her axe, and Hiccup hated the dark glint in her eyes as she prepared for an executioner’s strike.
“Stop! Heather, stop.”
Hiccup practically threw himself off Toothless in order to get between the two, trying to ensure Dagur’s safety (although, he wasn’t sure if having his back to him was the best idea out there either).
“Move, Hiccup,” she gritted out through clenched teeth. She wasn’t even looking at him, just staring at the man at her feet with a cold, bitter hatred. He felt a shiver go up through his spine at that look, missing the warm ones from just that morning.
“You don’t understand,” he started, but Heather didn’t care.
“You promised there would be another time, and this is it!”
Yeah, well, not what he was hoping for, but since when do things ever go according to plan?
He needed to be more direct.
“Look. Your father gave you this.” He pulled out the horn he had ever so carefully held out to his own father just a few hours ago. That thing held too many family secrets, in his opinion, though thinking about them made his heart burn. He pushed the feeling down into something more focused.
It wasn’t time for the Hiccup show, though; this was about getting Heather not to murder Dagur.
“He did, but what are you doing?” She asked cautiously, carefully snatching it back from him. Her attention was fully focused on him now, and he hoped that Astrid was taking care of Dagur now that neither of them were paying him any attention.
Hiccup reached over and pointed at the engravings on it. “This is my father’s, Chief Seal.”
“Stoick’s seal is carved into my horn? What are you saying?”
Hiccup took a deep breath. It was now or never.
“What I’m saying, is that years ago, Stoick gave this horn of the Berserker tribe, Oswald the Agreeable, as a gift for his newborn daughter. You were that newborn, Heather. Oswald the Agreeable is your father, and,” he took a deep breath, preparing to shatter her entire world, “… that means that Dagur is your brother too.”
Heather shook her head, disbelieving. Hiccup could see the way she was shutting down the information he gave her, but he put a hand on her arm, trying to draw her attention back to him.
“Heather, Dagur is your brother. You can’t kill him, no matter how much he deserves it.”
Heather shook him off and turned to Astrid, as if she were drowning. Hiccup wanted to tell her the full truth so badly, but she was already taking this one hard enough.
He turned around to assess the situation behind him and saw the way Astrid’s eyes were blown open in shock. Her foot was still on Dagur’s back, though, as she mouthed empty words that refused to come out. Her eyes blinked for a second before rounding further, but this time in horror as she pointed in alarm.
“I-“ she gasped. “It’s the rest of Dagur’s ships. Look out!”
Hiccup whirled around and ducked as a volley of arrows was sent right at his head.
“Heather, we have to go!” He shouted. She didn’t move, though, just stood there - frozen. Hiccup was worried she was going to get hit and was about to tackle her down to the ground when she broke out of it, eyes wide. Dagur, of course, chose that moment to break free of Astrid by kicking her feet out from under her, twisting her arm in the process while spitting out the gag that had been keeping him mercifully quiet. What a shame it didn’t stick for longer.
“I have to admit, you never disappoint, Hiccup,” Dagur spat, a wicked smile twitching at the edges of his lips, visibly amused. Hiccup could see the way his hands clenched, though, the tightness in his posture as he took a deep breath. It was the most control he had ever seen Dagur exercise before.
He kept going, though. “Or maybe you're my uncle.” Hiccup flinched, the truth a lot closer to that than he would like to admit. He hated this, he hated it so much. “Who knows in this crazy world!’
Hiccup instinctively cringed back at those words, flashes of thought circling his mind. If Dagur saw this hesitance on his part, he didn’t mention it, instead turning his fully deranged smile onto Heather, who was shaking ever so gently behind Hiccup.
“Heather, I’m the only family you’ve got left.” No, you're not.
Toothless appeared to agree with him as he leapt forward to separate them from the deranged man with a growl. “Join me, sister! Don’t fight destiny! I know you feel the berserker blood flowing through your veins.”
Hiccup felt both himself and Heather flinch in unison at those words, the words striking him as much as they did her. In sync, they both glanced at their dragons. Footsteps were thumping the ground behind them as men began to climb aboard, Stormfy’s squawking turning menacing as Toothless’s growl deepened, shooting a plasma blast at the men.
Heather suddenly bolted from Hiccup’s side with a yell, causing him to flinch. She ripped her arm out of his grasp and picked up her axe with a run. Hiccup’s mouth moved to form the words to tell her to stop before she did something she regretted, but before he had the chance, she leapt high over Dagur and onto Windshear’s saddle.
Her eyes looked back at the two of them, full of steel and anger, before she took off without a word.
Dagur leapt towards her, but missed Windshear by a finger's length, calling out, “Come back, sis!” Like that would make a difference. “Heather the ‘Unhinged’ has a nice ring to it, no? You’ll be back, and I’ll welcome you with open arms! We’ll wait for that reunion.”
Hiccup stayed back for just a moment, eyes fixated on the two siblings, before Toothless growled out a warning for him. Breaking from his moment of indecision, he bolted onto his own dragon. He took off, a few arrows left in his wake as he fled the scene that would haunt him for the remainder of his time at The Edge.
He circled around, Astrid close on his tail as he knocked Dagur over with a loud “Oomph!” Before taking to the skies once more.
“Alright, gang, back to the Edge!” He yelled, knowing that they were all too worked up and emotionally exhausted to take on a whole fleet.
He saw in the distance a flash of silver as Windshear sped back home, the rest of the dragons not too far behind.
———
By the time Hiccup arrived with the others, Heather was already packing up her belongings, standing outside the stables and stroking Windshear reverently. Her head was bowed, but when she looked up, her eyes were tinged slightly red.
Astrid made a soft sigh next to him as she landed with Stormfly. “Guess you’re leaving. Again. I thought you were tired of being alone.” She said, barely concealing disappointment in her tone.
“I am,” she said, miserable. She looked so lost about what to do. Hiccup just wanted to reach out and hug her, but held back, knowing that he would get socked in the face if he did with how errant her emotions had been running lately.
“Then don’t be,” Astrid shot back, “It’s safer here. You have support. And I am here.”
“We’ll help you, Heather. You don’t have to be alone,” Hiccup said, the secret on his tongue, but he swallowed it back. He wasn’t ready yet, he hadn’t even had a chance to digest it.
Heather sighed. “I know. I just have a lot I need to figure out. Thanks, Astrid. It was nice having a friend again.”
Same Heather, same.
Hiccup wanted her to stay so badly. He missed her when she had left last time, and he knew that this one would hurt even more. Something heavy twisted painfully in his stomach, tempting him to call out to her when she swung onto her dragon, but he held back. He pursed his lips and ignored the tremble in his own hands, reflecting that of Heather’s.
“Let’s go, girl,” she whispered to Windshear. Still, Hiccup and Astrid overheard as the dragon took off, flying gracefully into the sky. He didn’t know when he would see her again, but he hoped it was soon.
He just needed time to think.
Astrid startled him when she spoke, watching forlornly as Heather grew smaller into the sunset.
“I’ll miss her.”
That pretty summed up everything he was feeling. “Me too.” He whispered.
He still felt bitter, cheated. He wished that he could yell and hit something, but he knew that would not solve anything. He needed time to think, time to go and quiet his brain.
This didn’t mean anything had changed.
(Everything has changed).