Another Day in Berk

Fog darkened the sky, giving the snowy shore an eerie atmosphere. The spikes from the ice sanctuary were barely visible where they jutted into the sky.

Eret, Snotlout, Truffnut, Fishlegs and Hiccup climbed down one of Drago's abandoned ships, moving along the shore to prepare for Stoick's send off. They had gently carried Stoick's body onto the ship and were ready to carry up logs for a platform to rest his body on.

All the ladies and Gobber were busy tearing down a few of the abandoned row boats to give the men what they needed as well as searching the sanctuary for some firewood logs. Silently the boys grabbed a few bits of wood and carried them onto the ship's deck.

Everyone paused when Hiccup continued passed the wood. His head was down and his shoulders slumped forward as he trudged over to where his father last stood. He collapsed into a seating position, continuing to hold his head down.

Valka nudged me, "Go to him."

"But you're his mother, Valka," I reminded her.

She lowered her eyes, "You have always been there for him, Frigga. He knows your comfort better than mine."

"But now is your chance to be that mother you haven't been able to be."

"If my son is at all like his father, he needs the comfort of someone he's used to... Someone who knows is secrets... Who understands him."

I sighed, "I don't know what to say... I feel I can't get anything out... Stoick was like a father to me, but I don't think I hurt as much as him."

Astrid took a step toward me, "But you do know what it's like to lose a parent. You're the closest one to this kind of loss."

"Exactly why you should go over to him," Gobber added.

Valka gently pulled my free-falling hair over my left shoulder, "I don't think he needs words, just company."

Sighing once again, I put my hair into a loose bun and gazed at all my friends. "I'll be back," I told them before I went to approach my friend.

He didn't look up when I came to sit down, cross-legged, on his right. He clenched his fists, staring at the shattered ice shards from the fireball that hit Stoick. I placed my left hand over his right fist and squeezed lightly. I was surprised when his hand instantly clasped around mine and even more so when he let our hands fall into his lap, his other hand also grabbing my hand.

"H-He... He died to save me," Hiccup croaked. "You know... he told me... he liked the sound of Toothless shooting his... fireball..."

I scooted closer to Hiccup and let my free hand rest on his forearm, "I remember that day... He would do anything to keep you safe, Hiccup. No matter if it put his life in danger. Anything."

Hiccup let out a shaky sigh, "He just found Mom after so long..."

"And he was happy," I reassured him.

Hiccup suddenly leaned up against me, his head falling on my shoulder. I let my cheek rest on the top of his head and I moved my right hand to brush his bangs out of his face continuously.

"He may be gone," I sniffled, "But he'll always be with us... And protecting you was the most important thing to him. He died knowing he kept you alive. It may not have seemed like it, but he trusted your strength to take down Drago."

"I-I don't know if I can..."

"Stoick did. He saw your potential, even though he was hard on you at first... He knew you would succeed... We all know you'll succeed."

Hiccup's arms moved around my torso and he hugged me tightly. I felt my eyes water, but I pulled back my tears.

"I miss him, too," I admitted, my voice dripping in sorrow. "He was like a father to me. I feel like I've lost a family member for the second time. I don't know who I can turn to for fatherly advice anymore... But despite the pain, I think we'll all be okay. Especially if you stay strong and be the leader you dad saw you could be."

My friend didn't respond, so we sat in silence from then on. About a half hour passed before Astrid shuffled over to us.

"We're ready," she announced quietly.

Hiccup released me and stood, helping me up. His eyes dripped with sadness, but he kept his face stoic when he looked at me.

"Thank you," he muttered to me, then Astrid. He turned away and walked to ship, trying to keep his head up.

"Is he going to be okay?" Astrid asked me.

I linked my arm with hers and nodded, "He'll be okay. His Stoick's son. He's always ready to pick himself up and carry on as before. Hiccup's just trying to wrap his mind around finding his mother and suddenly losing his father."

Astrid smiled sadly, "You know, I've always been jealous of you."

"What? Really?"

"You and Hiccup have a special relationship... Always have." Astrid unlinked our arms and crossed hers, "Even when he and I were dating, that bond never wavered. It just got stronger."

I shrugged," I took care of him practically his entire childhood... and I was the only person who was his friend from the beginning. I never thought he wasn't good enough."

"I wish it didn't take the Red Death for me to see that," Astrid admitted. "Your friendship is so deep and meaningful. Nothing can shake it."

"Aren't your friendships like that now? We've all grown so much closer since then."

"No, what you guys have is completely different... It's changed as well. Something else is there since this morning."

Pink dusted my cheeks and the top of my ears, "Um... really? It hasn't changed that much since this morning..."

Astrid smirked a little, "Based on the tension from earlier, a blind viking could see something's changed."

My gaze lingered on Hiccup as he climbed onto the ship again with the other guys. I remembered his awkwardness and sudden kiss on my cheek before the battle, blushing brighter.

I heard Astrid giggle softly, "Like I was saying, even a blind viking could see a difference. But enough talking, we need to help get this preparation done and then figure out how to save Berk."

"Yeah..."

The mood became somber again as we made our way to the boat. We climbed up and the lot of us surrounded that wooden platform with Stoick's cold body on top of it. It was a tough sight to see.

All of us said our own soft farewells and then left Valka and Hiccup to say their private goodbyes. The rest of us lined up along the coast with bows in our hands and arrows with a lighted tip and waited for the family to the shore. Gobber poked the fire he built a few times, trying to keep himself busy as the family pushed Stoick's ship off of the shore.

Eventually the two met us back on the shore. Hiccup paused when he saw us standing patiently. His face held adoration and sadness as his mother grabbed her own bow and stood next to me in the line.

"Thanks you guys," Hiccup whispered.

Gobber took the silence that followed as his cue to start speaking.

"May the Valkaries welcome you and lead you through Odin's great battlefield. May they sing your name with love and fury, so that we may hear it rise from the depths of Valhalla and know that you have taken your rightfull place at the table of kings."

My eyes trailed over to Hiccup. He held his chin up high as he watched his father float further into the vast ocean. I felt a few tears run down my cheeks seeing the strength Hiccup was using for the sake of all of us.

"For a great man has fallen... a warrior, a chieftain, a father, a friend..." Gobber finished solemnly.

All our eyes watched Hiccup as he grabbed a bow and arrow and lit the end of the arrow. He walked toward the edge of the shore and placed the arrow on the bowstring. He pulled it back, the back of the arrow rested near his cheek for a breath until he released it. The arrow soared through the sky and landed perfectly on the ship. Small flames slowly flickered to life.

The rest of us took our aim and released our own flaming arrows. They followed the path of Hiccup's and fed the small fire. The boat soon had dancing flames across its deck. It was sad, but our send off couldn't have been more beautiful.

Hiccup took another step closer to the waters, "I-I'm sorry, Dad. I'm not the chief that you wanted me to be and I'm not the peace keeper I thought I was either. I don't know..."

Valked went to stand beside her son, "You came early into this world, you were a wee thing... So frail, so fragile. I feared you wouldn't make it, but your father, he never doubted. He always said you would become the strongest of them all and he was right." She tenderly touched her son's face and brushed his hair from his forehead. "You have a heart of a chief and the soul of a dragon. Only you can bring our worlds together. That is who you are, son."

Hiccup stared at the horizon. The angle from where I stood made a halo of light around him when the sun slowly peeked through the fog.

"I, ah, I was so afraid of becoming my dad mostly because I thought I never could. H-How do you become someone that great? That brave? That selfless? I guess you can only try..." Hiccup's posture straightened and he faced us, a determined look on his features. "A chief protects his own... We're going back."

"Uh, with what?" Truffnut asked.

"He took all the dragons," Ruffnut pointed out.

"Not all of them," Hiccup smirked.

My eyes brightened, "Genius!"

"Brilliant idea, son," Valka grinned. "Follow me!"

The group of us followed after Valka through the deserted caves. I was about to turn a corner when someone grabbed my wrist and pulled me back. Since I was at the end of the group, no one noticed me disappear.

My back pressed against a cave wall as I met Hiccup face to face.

"Why did you do that?" I exclaimed in a whisper. "I was so scared I nearly screamed and beat you up!"

Sheepishly, he smiled, "Sorry, but I really need to get this off my chest. I don't think I'm going to get another opportunity to say anything for a while... I know the timing is off, but it's about earlier."

My neck turned red and I felt it raise to my face and ears, "Yeah, the timing is probably not the best, but... what is it you, um, need to tell me?"

It was Hiccup's turn to turn red, his cheeks and bridge of his nose coloring, "I-I think I like you... a lot, Frigga."

"You think?" My stomach did somersaults at his words, getting worse as he nervously corrected himself.

"Ah, not think... know... um, gods this is not as easy as I hoped..." he trailed off, resting his forehead on the wall behind me.

I tensed since he was left little space between us, his chin brushing the top of my shoulder. I took a couple tiny steps to the side to put a little more space between us. He thankfully didn't seem to notice.

"I know you're trying to, um, find the right words, but we really need to save Berk. We can... talk more in depth after," I told him.

"What if we don't have an after?" he questioned, looking at me again. "Just gimme a second..."

"Hiccup..."

Suddenly, Hiccup grabbed my hand and tugged me back to stand right in front of him as he stood up straight. He gazed at me with his green eyes, determination on his face.

"I-I like you, Frigga. You've been my friend since I can remember and... and lately you've come to mean more to me. The situation doesn't call for this, I mean, after Dad..." Hiccup paused to glance away, "But if it weren't for him... You would had never known how I feel... This feels so cliche..."

I felt that my head was burning and that I could have melted the sanctuary. I was joyous he shared my unspoken feelings, but the shock factor of it all was so embarrassing.

"Y-You're not kidding?" I stuttered.

He shook his head, "Of course not. I don't go around kissing girls because I can. I do like you, Frigga."

"Um, that wasn't really a kiss," I corrected. "More of a rushed, 'we might not make it out okay,' peck on my cheek. Mind you... it would have been the case if it weren't for Stoick... But that was not a kiss."

My friend raised his eyebrow, "Oh really?"

I nodded.

"And I didn't think we wouldn't make it out okay."

"You made it seem like that would be the case..."

"Well... I was preparing for the worst," Hiccup said, leaning towards me a little.

At that point, I took note of how much closer he was to me. I panicked and suddenly had a case of word vomit.

"Um, since it seems everyone is jumping on the bandwagon... I like you, too, Hiccup. For a really long time now actually... I think a few years before we found Toothless. I know so much about you and I took care of you for so long, I couldn't help it... You're Hiccup, you're something special..."

"Really?" Hiccup looked surprised.

I only nodded.

"You didn't... tell me?"

"You're my best friend. I couldn't risk making things weird... Plus you were busy trying to get Astrid to notice you."

"And... you helped her to... But you liked me through it all? Why didn't you say anything when we broke up?"

I shrugged, "The timing wasn't right, hasn't been right... really isn't right since we need to be saving Berk."

Hiccup smiled warmly at me, ignoring the reminder I gave him. He leaned forward and kissed my forehead softly. The warmth from his lips spread through my whole body.

Blushing profusely when he grinned down at me, I spoke again, "Um... we need to go, Hiccup."

"Come on, then." Hiccup took my head and we ran to our friends.

"What took you so long?" Snotlout asked us when we entered the cave where the Scuttleclaws were playing.

If my blushing face and Hiccup's grin didn't give them ideas, Hiccup gazing at me longer than needed before letting go of my hand sure did.

"Talking," I answered truthfully, ignoring the smirk from Astrid.

"Sure," Ruffnut laughed, elongating the word.

Hiccup didn't blink an eye at their teases as he climbed onto a Scuttleclaw. "Time to save Berk," he announced, the baby dragon suddenly scampering around in a circle.

"This is going to be interesting," Astrid muttered, trying to get onto a baby Scuttleclaw herself.

With a lot of complaints and attempts, all of us finally got the Scuttleclaws under control long enough for us to ride them. We were going to try to fly all together, but Gobber's Scuttleclaw started flying away without us.

"Alright, let's go then," Hiccup chuckled.

All of us struggled to get our dragons in the air, but we eventually succeeded and began flying through the sanctuary. We mostly spent our fly time in the caves dodging ice thanks to the babies being unaware of their surroundings.

"I don't want to die!" Fishlegs cried, his Scuttleclaw swerving between us.

"We can't fly these things!" Truffnut pointed out the obvious.

"You're telling me!" Fishlegs added.

"Won't that Bewilderbeast take control of these guys too?" Astrid questioned.

"They're babies," I told her.

Hiccup finished my sentence, "They don't listen to anyone!"

Gobber managed to get his dragon near us in the front, "This is very dangerous! Some might suggest this is poorly conceived."

Hiccup grinned at Gobber, "It's a good thing that I never listen."

We all barely dodged some ice, then regrouped.

"What is your plan?" Gobber asked Hiccup.

"Get Toothless back and kick Drago's-"

"Head's up!"

A bridge of ice blocked most of our path except for a small gap in the bridge and we were coming to it fast.

"And that thing," Hiccup finished before we all passed the ice... barely. Gobber's dragon decided it wanted to run into the ice instead. Our poor friend did catch up with a minute later, muttering under his breath as we fumbled through the air toward Berk.