46. A promise to keep

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Hiccup just remained at the top of the dark stairway looking down even after Syn had descended with the rest of the Berkians in tow. His brow furrowed noticing the off-character behavior of his wife; she never once looked back to give a reassuring glance, not a single smile or word of encouragement.

In fact, the only looks back came from Snotlout who sent him a defiant glare, one he was more than happy to return, to which Snotlout only gave a bored dismissive scoff before turning around. It certainly made him angry that his bull-headed cousin and the rest were still underestimating him in the face of all they had seen. Yet he chose to focus more on the growing pit in his stomach over the safety of his wife alone with his ex-parent, the man who had threatened her and would do who knows what else given her defiant nature.

And based on the way Alvis gripped onto his sleeve, the sentiment was shared. "I don't like that man. Daddy, where's he going with mommy?"

The movement of the small child in his arms brought Hiccup back to focus and drew his attention right to his equally worried face. He gave a small smile and readjusted his hold to carry the young boy bridal-style. "Don't worry, Alvis. They're just going to talk for a little bit. At least, I hope so." He muttered looking back to the steps once more.

"You think something bad's gonna happen?"

"Well, like practically every other Viking ever, Stoick was never really one for conversation. He always preferred to let his fists or hammer do the talking for him." A deadpan comment like that might not have been the best thing to mutter to a son worried for his mother, he thought once he heard Alvis's sharp gasp. Hiccup bit his tongue and fought back both a wince and the need to slap himself in the head for his insensitivity. Fortunately, Toothless beat him to it with his tail, but made sure to keep it light lest he propel his rider and Alvis down the steps. "Hey, don't worry, this is mommy we're talking about. I'd be more worried about him than her." He mentioned while rubbing his head with a slightly pained look.

"You sure?" Alvis said rather torn looking at his father's face.

"Of course. Your mom's got a real knack for telling people off. Just ask Ruoy." Hiccup smiled.

Finally, Hiccup stepped away from the top of the staircase and returned to Alvis' room with Toothless close behind. The room of the young chief/dragon rider-to-be was mostly similar to Hiccup's old room back on Berk was, with a bed, a desk for drawing, drawers for keeping clothes and other basic necessities. However, it was also filled to the brim with books brought in from other countries obtained on their three-year long journey, mostly children's stories, picture books and basic materials for learning to read, write, and do arithmetic.

Hiccup had been eager to promote intellectual skills long before his promotion to chief believing it would help the people in the long run, remembering how education had never been in favor with the Hooligan Tribe, and considering their overall lack of intelligence to be a heavily contributing factor to the continued ruin of their tribe. And lucky for him, Alvis was already an avid reader, at his current age able to understand material read by most adults, although that wasn't really saying all that much. He mentioned how he wanted to study up as much as possible by the time he could enroll in the Dragon Academy and learn to be a rider, he could be the top student and make him proud.

Aside from that, as expected to be in a child's room, there were toys pretty much everywhere, from stuffed animals to wooden swords and balls. Same as the books, toys that clearly had the look of foreign lands were there as well, decorated with unusual patterns and symbols. Harold and Syn considered Hiccup to be spoiling the boy with all the toys he had gotten him, but he never really listened. Besides, Alvis never complained about it, although Syn said it would be a sign of Ragnarok the day any child anywhere stopped asking for any toys.

Hiccup carried Alvis over to his bed and set the young child down gently, like a priceless and fragile treasure. Alvis's tiny form seemed to dissolve in the mat of soft animal hide, a much more preferable contrast to the hard wood planks that left many a Viking with stiff backs the next day. Alvis stared up at his father, a solemn curiosity filling up the young child's gaze.

"Daddy, is that man really my Grandpa?"

Hiccup paused for a moment, the out-of-the-blue question taking him by surprise, before tucking the sheets in around him. "In a manner of speaking, yes..."

"Why don't you ever talk about him?" Alvis asked.

Hiccup held back the large lump in his throat to keep himself from yelling at his son for his clearly innocent question. Admittedly it was rather hard considering the cut in his sleep time thanks in no small part to an unexpected and unwanted reunion with his former people. The time he spent on Berk was a chapter in his life he wanted to close the book on forever and yet like always, it seemed like fate had preferred to keep him from the easier path. Left with no choice he swallowed back the lump and let the hands that had been tightly gripping the sheets release their iron grip hold.

And with a soft exhale through the nose, he gave it. "It's complicated." He spoke quietly with a barely noticeable shrug off the shoulders. "Your grandfather and I have never really had the best relationship. Looking back on it, I guess he was always more interested in being a chief than a father. Less emotional involvement for him that way."

"Uhm..." Alvis cocked his head with a soft shift of the pillow being heard. "I don't get it."

"Yeah, can't say I do either." Hiccup chuckled, but in an instant the small sad grin that graced his features was gone. "I don't really remember much about how or exactly when it started; seems like he's been ignoring me my whole life. But I had heard it had a lot to do with the way your Grandmother died."

Alvis only looked down to his tiny hands on the soft cloth blankets. "You said that before, with... Grandpa. But everybody was talking so fast, I didn't really follow... how did she die?" Looking back up to his father, he now saw him with a deeply troubled expression on his face. "Daddy?"

This was it – the dreaded moment that Hiccup had hoped to never really have to come in his child's lifetime, or at the very least to have been put off until he was at least 40. Alvis had been one of the last children born in an era of war, and thankfully had spent the final few days of that war as an innocent, ignorant baby. Running a hand across his weary face, it seemed now more foolish than apparently possible to think he could hide such a crucial, monumental, not to mention longstanding piece of history from Alvis.

Syn too had warned him about it, despite already knowing his intentions in keeping it hidden. One way or another, with the boy's inherited desire for knowledge and understanding, he would have come across it on his own, and where would that leave them then? If there was one thing Hiccup knew, it was that secrets had a way of driving wedges between people. Glancing back at Alvis gave him the clear reminder of how he swore not to let history repeat itself in the case of father and son – that was more than enough reason to spit it out here and now.

"The truth is, Alvis... your mommy and I wanted to wait until you were older to tell you this. We didn't think you would take it all that well, and..." Alvis was left startled by the speed at which his father turned around and firmly grasped his hand in reassurance. "You're happy here, right? I mean, with the way things are?"

As if the last few tense moments had been some harsh nightmare, Alvis let out a bright smile. "Of course I am. I have lots of friends to play with, lots of kids my own age, and the dragons are a lot of fun too! We get to play lots of games and we talk about being riders and-"

"I'm glad to hear that." Hiccup laughed and cut off Alvis' excited spur with a ruffle of his hair. Though even after the laughter ended, the hand still kept its place atop his head. "It makes me... really happy to know that you feel that way. Because, well... things weren't always like this ..."

"I don't get it. Didn't you get to play with dragons too?" Alvis asked.

"Actually, no. You see, when I was your age, dragons weren't our friends." Hiccup gulped –that was it , the moment of truth, as it truly seemed to be. "For a really long time, in my old village and lots of other places, even here, everyone was brought up to hate and fear dragons. We... fought them. We killed them."

A dead silence filled the room that none of its three occupants dared to break, tension permeating like the odor of an animal carcass left to gather mud and grime. This had been pretty much how Hiccup expected a child born with the idea that dragons were loving, loyal companions would take such an awful truth. He was glad that Toothless had been gracious enough to leave them both to their thoughts without so much as a single warble, long accepting the fact that his rider kept such secrets for noble reasons.

But now he was just wishing that someone, anyone, would break the silence and speak, feeling like a child who had just misbehaved greatly and was simply awaiting punishment in a cold sweat.

"W-What...?" Hiccup finally dared to look up at his son's broken and shuddering whisper of a question, and his eyes widened in pain seeing the look of horror and devastation on Alvis's face clear as day. "What do you mean? W-Why... why would you... you do something like that?"

For a moment the answer seemed to die on his tongue, but Hiccup quickly recovered after another deep exhale. "Well, ask around and you'll get quite a few answers. That is, if you're not tried for treason on the spot." He winced rather noticeably at Alvis's sharp gasp in reaction to what would, to more steeled individuals, would have just been a light joke. With a sigh he continued. "Some'll say it was for protection, some'll say for payback, and then some'll say just because it was cool. We'd been doing it back on Berk for a long time, and I guess at some point, it became the big thing."

"D-Did you ever... kill a dragon?"

"Other than the Red Death? No, but gods know I tried..."

If only that one admission could wipe away the shame he felt for the desperate thoughts he had back then and the foolish actions he performed. Hiccup clenched his fist out of a mixture of emotions: anger, regret, sadness, disappointment, directed at himself more than anyone else. "Like I said, it was the big thing. Nobody really liked how I turned out, and I felt that killing a dragon was the only way I could get any respect. I didn't have the happy life that you do now. I didn't have friends, the kids my age were jerks who just made fun of me because I was different and messed up a lot."

"Those were those other people, right? I didn't like them, either, especially that big guy and the lady." Alvis pouted.

"Snotlout and Astrid? Yeah, trust me; they're worse once you get to know them."

Personal experience made that statement ring true; aside from his father, those two were his greatest tormentors during his days on Berk. His bully cousin was a prime example. Vain, smug, and saddled with a brain the size of a limpet and a heart even smaller so as to believe glory and greatness were served on a golden platter for him to take. He'd think it was his own strength that was the cause of it, enemies would fall because he was a mighty and terrifying foe, riches would fall at his feet because people viewed him as some celebrity, and women would flock to him because he was handsome and heroic. And all long before the subject of chief came into his knowledge and the praising would only be even more fulfilling to him.

But the most sickening part was how Snotlout would revel in watching the pain and suffering of those like him, weak and left to dig whatever scraps of fortune he could from the battlefield's dirt only to fail miserably. Even when confined to the sidelines to put out stray fires during raids, he'd never pass up a chance to laugh at his dejected cousin for his latest blunder.

"I've never seen anybody mess up that badly. That helped!" Snotlout called out with the other teens by his side, all laughing in cruel mockery following his little public humiliation. Nice to know he could always count on Hiccup the Useless to screw up as always and give folks a good laugh.

Astrid, on the other hand, though she was never as vocally cruel or condescending as Snotlout was, still had a kind of arrogance all her own. The coldness she displayed towards not only him, but everyone, came from that constant subjection of herself and everyone around her to her own ridiculous standards of perfection. She could have been privileged as Snotlout was; she was, in a way, with all her phenomenal battle skills and prowess in the ring as the result of harsh training. Yet she constantly had the nerve to act as if nothing was good enough for her, and punch or yell at anything or anyone that disagreed with her.

In the days he and Syn had together to cement their relationship, he could still think back to how his affections towards that smug shield-maiden wannabe had amounted to little more than a proverbial punch in the face in rejection. It really slowed down how their relationship developed, much to both of their dismay, and sadly it took a long time before Hiccup felt he was ready to trust his heart in another's hands. The way he'd foolishly trusted Astrid and had been left with an axe-chopped mess to hold onto and her harsh words ringing in his ears that he could only try to forget.

"Is this some kind of a joke to you?" She lividly yelled at his crouching form after their training session with the Deadly Nadder, who had already been placed with rage. Her eyes were widened with rage and disgust, looking down on him as if he were just a mindless, wriggling worm. Figures the only time she'd bothered to pay attention to him was so she could angrily scream something so he'd get his act together. "Our parents' war is about to become ours, figure out whose side you're on!"

Unknown to her, he had already had a good idea whose side he wanted to be on once she angrily stomped out. A flash came to his mind, of when he had a certain black dragon bound in ropes on the forest floor completely at his mercy, and then another in which his 14-year old self's hand connected with the same dragon's snout as a sign of their newly formed bond. A subconscious twitch of his hand led to him repeating the motion once more.

"In the end, turns out I couldn't kill a dragon in more ways than one." He stated.

"You mean... Toothless?"

"Yeah, Toothless was the only friend I had. I had the chance to kill him, and I won't lie that there was a part of me that wanted to, but I didn't." Hiccup's hand moved up to pet his loyal dragon right on the forehead, eliciting a purr from the mighty beast. "It turned out to be the best decision I ever made; I came to trust him more than I could really trust any of them."

Alvis could only stare between his father and his father's dragon, completely in shock that such a complex history existed between them. It hurt to know that he was treated so badly by people, those people that had barged into their house; it also might have been surprising to see that the man hadn't been the great hero he'd always known him to be. But if anything, the difficult choice his father made in leaving his home and sacrificing everything he knew in order to protect his friend only made him admire the man more. Alvis only wondered now if he could have made such a difficult decision, even if it seemed like there would be nothing holding him back but his broken ties to others.

"I always wanted to belong, that's what I thought, when really I just tried to please people like my father." Hiccup spoke as he turned back to the child and pushed him back down into the bed. "That's something I want you to remember son – not just for when you take my place as chief, but for the rest of your life. You need to be true to yourself, and make decisions based on what you know is right, even if others disagree. Don't make the same mistakes I did."

Alvis paused in thought before speaking again. "Daddy, I'm glad you're not a dragon killer..."

"Yeah, me too, son..." Hiccup said.

Alvis was happy, truly, yet he still emptily fidgeted in his bed, one thought still bothering him about the whole thing. "Daddy... you said Grandpa started ignoring you when Grandma Valka died. Is... is that gonna happen to me? Are you gonna ignore me if Mommy dies?" He asked in a tiny voice.

Hiccup gasped, his eyes widening in shock at the child's indirect accusation. For Alvis to even assume that he would turn around and emulate any aspect of his father's personality long after he swore he would not seemed unthinkable, even by his younger self's standards. In every possible effort to convey this, he grabbed onto Alvis's tiny arms and moved in close so that their faces were but a foot apart. "No, no, Alvis, don't say things like that!" He muttered while shaking his head. "I'm not like my father, I would... never leave you alone like that. "

He breathed in to collect his thoughts before speaking once more. "You and your mother, you both mean the world to me – it's as much my responsibility to protect you as it is to protect the village, the dragons, everything. Your mother, I love her... and it would hurt so... so much to lose her. But if it did, if something happened, then you would become my number one priority. I'd do everything I could and I'd spend every moment making sure you were happy and safe, and I would love you enough... for the both of us. I'd owe as much to you and to her."

"R-Really?"

"Of course. Alvis, I promise... I will never stop loving you... for anything." Hiccup said quietly, and wrapped the tiny child into a warm embrace. Alvis's tiny body was nearly swallowed up in how Hiccup completely wrapped his arms and head around him. But he was more than fine with it; his father more than proved that he was sincere. He had never once broken a promise to him, and he knew he wasn't about to start with this.

Hiccup pulled away from Alvis and began to rise from the bed. "Alright, come on, bedtime. We can talk about this more in the morning."

"But it technically is morning," Alvis pointed out towards the window. The stars had indeed begun to fade away, and the near blackness on the night sky had already given way to a lighter shade of deep blue.

"Alright, then, we'll talk when the sun comes up," Hiccup corrected himself. "Now, it's bedtime. Go on, call on your Terror."

Alvis turned to the open window and clasped his hands together. "Fafnir!" Alvis shrieked. Within moments a pure green Terrible Terror flapped in and set itself on the windowsill before flying in and landing next to Alvis.

Aside from being messengers, Terrible Terrors were also useful in that they served as a sort of pre-dragon that children could adopt and live with in order to get used to dragons at a young age before they could enroll in the Dragon Academy and obtain a dragon to ride. It had been proposed by Hiccup some time after development of the Academy started, and Harold and the others had found sense in it. Terrors were small, less powerful, and rather easy to control and take care of as opposed to the larger dragons that were sure to be more responsibility. Rather expectedly, none of the children complained about the law, even if their parents were less than thrilled.

"Alright, son! Way to go!" Hiccup said, clapping and praising his son's dragon calling skills.

But Alvis had already fallen asleep cuddling the little dragon, and the Terror doing the same. The two were wrapped together in an adorable little bundle of limbs. Hiccup tucked his son back in in with a kiss on the forehead and even Toothless gave his own little lick goodnight. The two quietly tiptoed out of the room and gently shut the door to leave the boy to peaceful dreams of dragon riding once more.

Hiccup and Toothless turned to the hall once more when they both heard the audible thumping of footsteps climbing the stairs. The young chief readied himself with a hand to the sword hilt strapped onto his leg while Toothless crouched down and gave a low, guttural growl at the preconceived threat. Both visibly relaxed, however, to see it was only Arne climbing up the steps, a look of worry etched on his face. By the time he had gotten to the top, he crouched down and propped his hands on his knees, breathing heavily and looking quite exhausted, like he had run a marathon across the perimeter on the island. Guessing there might have been a similar case since his house was pretty far from theirs, Hiccup graciously allowed him the chance to catch his breath.

"W-What's... going... on here? We... heard the yelling!" Arne panted.

Hiccup winced. He'd imagined someone would have heard them, but he never guessed it would go as far as Arne's house. He awkwardly scratched his head. "Ah, yeah, sorry about that. Is... anyone else up?"

"Oh, just about... EVERYONE ON THE ISLAND!" Arne said.

Both Hiccup and Toothless winced at this. "Right, well sorry, and don't worry about it. Just some... unexpected guests..."

"Well, I'd certainly like to know who'd choose the middle of the night to pay a visit!" Arne shouted.

"Shhh!" Hiccup shushed the frantic man, pointing to Alvis's room; Arne thankfully was as sharp as his daggers and quickly got the message. "Eh, well, you know. Consideration for others was never really their strong suit." He said softly with a distinctly bitter undertone which is unnatural for his voice.

"'Was?'" Arne questioned before his eyes widened and he began to shake his head. "Oh, no. No way!"

"Yep." Hiccup said. "In fact, Syn's attending to them right now. Hey, can I get you to watch Alvis for a while?" Hiccup said pointing back to the door. He wanted to at least make sure the Hooligans wouldn't try anything underhanded like use Alvis as leverage to get him to come back to Berk. It might have been a bit of a long shot, but he wouldn't really put it past any of them, even his father, at the moment.

"Sure. But where are you going?" Arne asked Hiccup's descending figure with Toothless following close behind.

"To help her attend to our... guests..." Hiccup said in the darkest tone Arne had ever heard him mutter before he had left the house completely with Toothless on his heels. Arne just continued to watch with a shudder running up his spine of pure excitement. Oh, boy, those guys were in for it.

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~~TO BE CONTINUED~~