The Strength of the Princess (HTTYD)

So It Begins

Chapter 57: So It Begins

Eira knew the time for the final confrontation drew near. The dragon riders raced back to Berk after Gobber explained that Stoick was badly injured from an attack by dragon flyers. The chief was in pretty bad shape, and the Berkians wanted Hiccup to take over. Everyone went to bed to deal with the mess in the morning.

Eira could not sleep, so she wandered outside where she found the other riders, including Haldor. They decided to congregate in the Great Hall. It was there they found Hiccup in the middle of talking to Toothless.

"You know he'll pull through, Hiccup," Astrid said, earning a startled look from Hiccup, who just realized the presence of the others. "He's Stoick."

"None of us could sleep, either," Fishlegs explained.

Astrid looked at Hiccup in concern. "You know you can't blame yourself for this, right?"

"Sure, he can," said Ruffnut. "If he never left for Dragon's Edge, he'd have been able to protect his dad."

"His selfish decisions are the central cause of all of this pain," said Tuffnut.

"However, if we'd never gone to the Edge, things would have been worse."

"And we would've ended up in the same place anyway."

Hiccup frowned. "How's that?"

"We were hoping you'd ask," said Ruff.

"Two words, one exclamation mark: Full Loki!" said Tuff.

The twins launched into a story about how they would have nearly torn Berk apart because of their obsession with Loki. This was followed by a scenario from Fishlegs and then Snotlout. In each of them, the dragon flyers ended up still attacking. Then they started arguing about the 'correct' scenario.

"Everyone, the basic point you're all making is correct," said Eira, who was tired of the conflict. "Regardless of our actions, the dragon flyers would still be up to something, and it would not be good for any of us."

"But we might have managed to stay out of it," Ingrid said with a shrug. "The dragon hunters only started attacking us because we tried to stop them from hurting dragons. Just saying."

"So, do you think-" Tuff started.

"Enough!" Hiccup said loudly. "All of you, enough! This is all pointless. It doesn't matter if we stayed or left."

"Thought that was the game we were playing. You know, 'What happened if we had never left?'"

"It's not a game, Tuffnut. It's not a dream. It's not a way of life. It's reality. It actually happened. We trained the dragons, we left Berk, and my father is on his deathbed because of it, because of me. None of this would have happened and I mean none of it if I had never shot down Toothless in the first place." Everyone stared at Hiccup, stunned. "You know it. I know it. Berk knows it. Everyone knows it!" He looked at Toothless. "Even he knows it." Then he stormed out of the Great Hall.

For a minute, no one said anything. Ruff broke the silence: "Should we go after him?"

"I need some air," Eira muttered. She exited the Great Hall as well, making sure to head in the opposite direction as Hiccup. She had been walking for a minute when she heard footsteps behind her. She stopped but did not turn around.

"How are you doing?" Haldor asked gently.

"Is he right?" Eira said into the darkness. "Is Ingrid right? Does our way of life put the people we love in danger? No, that's not quite right. It's our insistence to go out and stop evil towards dragons that puts people in danger."