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“Freyja, calm down! I can’t even begin to try to understand you if you don’t- oof!”
Viggo doesn’t have any time to process it, but once he does, he quickly realises he’s being carried by his dragon as if he were her misbehaving hatchling, teeth lifting him by the back of his armour and dragging him towards their rinky dink cabin. Viggo would be utterly embarrassed if there were anyone around to see, but thankfully, they were alone, no dragons around to disturb their evening peace.
…Which is strange enough as it is, but Viggo is more perturbed by Freyja’s behaviour, considering she’s never acted like this before; even in Viggo’s most dangerous moments, she’s never been so utterly hysterical.
She bats open the door by force with her wing, not caring for any damage she’s caused before gently placing Viggo down. His feet are barely skimming the ground before he’s being pushed forward by her head nudging his lower back, and once she’s fit inside too, she dives for his knapsack, the one he only takes when they’re taking long trips and need supplies.
He looks over at her when she drops it at his feet, anticipating some sort of an explanation, but the Skrill only looks back with those damned gorgeous eyes of hers.
He sighs; he doesn’t have a choice after all, not really-
“Alright, I suppose we’re going away for a little while, huh?”
Freyja doesn’t offer any response, and spends the time restlessly roaming the small home they share while Viggo sorts his things. He isn’t sure what he’s supposed to be packing, but every once in a while Freyja will growl in disagreement and he’ll put whatever offending item he has down; sometimes she’ll nudge something to him and he doesn’t fight, packing it without a complaint.
-Because something is very wrong, and he’s going to figure out what has her in such an agitated state.
-
He didn’t expect her to take him to Berk of all places, though.
“Absolutely not,” He hisses, grabbing onto the saddle’s steering and trying to drag her away. She fights his guidance easily, ignoring his hesitance, before suddenly taking a dive and forcing Viggo to hold on as she lands in the middle of the village.
Or, more accurately, what was remaining of the village.
“What… happened here?”
There wasn’t a sign of life amongst the smouldering remains of the tribe, houses burned and dragon posts destroyed. He picks up the faint scent of-
He shudders, lifting his ungloved hand to the blind side of his face, index and middle finger tracing under his eyelid to feel the burned texture. Judging by the all too familiar smell still lingering, whatever had happened to Berk couldn’t have happened more than a few days ago, and for a brief moment he wonders if the smell stretches across the whole island-
He tosses the thought as soon as it dashes through his mind.
“They must’ve left,” Viggo concludes, taking a heavy breath as Freyja ambles around, nose practically dug into the ground. She doesn’t lower herself so Viggo makes no move to leave the saddle, letting her sniff around the remains of the village to find some sort of traceable scent. Apparently she catches a strong enough scent, because she perks up, holding her head high to narrow in on the smell, before looking west.
By now, the sun has completely set, but Viggo can’t wait.
“Let’s go.”
-
He can’t tell how long it’s been since they left Berk, but Viggo is practically asleep in the saddle when he awakes to a sudden swooping sensation in the pit of his stomach that sends him nearly flying out of the saddle in half-asleep panic, but he grasps the leather in time. Freyja lands silently on a cliff, elegant unlike her rider, and then without warning, lets out a shrill screech.
Viggo does fall out of the saddle now, grabbing his hearing ear with one hand in an attempt to block the piercing noise, and her head with the other to stop her. Once she’s done, he hisses, “No, don’t do that! We just wanted to make sure they were okay, didn’t we? And- Look!”
He gestures to the partially made houses and dozens of cloth tarps being used at temporary shelter, and meets Freyja’s eyes, hoping his disappointment shows. “They’re okay, see? So-”
Freyja glares now and shoves him, not hard enough to make him fall but he does stumble backwards, and she opens her maw to let out another call when suddenly, a metal sound is heard behind Viggo’s turned back, and he freezes, because he knows that sound-
“Hello? What’s- Viggo?!”
He whips his head around before he can reconsider; if he had taken a second to think it over, he would probably be diving for Freyja’s back, even though he knew she wouldn’t take to the air now.
She came here on purpose after all, the traitor.
Hiccup stands just down the way, looking dressed down for the night but still wearing his prosthetic, though it does look hastily attached; Viggo doesn’t know what time it is anymore, but judging by the lack of lights in the village beyond, it’s probably closer to sunrise now. Hiccup is now noticeably older since the last time Viggo had seen him too, but still with unruly hair that looks on par with the nest of a proud bird.
Viggo doesn’t realise he’s gotten lost in actually seeing Hiccup again in the flesh after all these years, not until the viking is stomping over and slapping a hand on Viggo’s chest. “You’re alive?! You’ve been alive this whole damn time?”
“I-”
“You- Dear Odin, don’t you know what you put me through?!” Hiccup cries, but the anger seems to deflate in him at the words, and he looks up at Viggo with eyes swimming with emotion.
More emotion than Viggo had really expected.
“I…”
“And you’re not gonna say anything?” Hiccup huffs, and he takes a step back towards Viggo again. Viggo isn’t sure what he’s going to do; the slap hadn’t really hurt, not through his armour, but Freyja clearly doesn’t agree because she growls out a warning behind him.
Hiccup pauses, but he doesn’t hesitate; he skirts around Viggo, and gasps.
“Is.. Is this-?”
Viggo finally has his breath back, caught in surprise that Freyja had brought him to Hiccup specifically for some reason that he can’t yet decipher; something beyond what happened on Berk, he knows now.
“The Skrill? Yes indeed… She saved me that day. I would have certainly died from my injuries if it wasn’t for her intervention,” Viggo explains, watching as Hiccup kneels and slowly draws his palm out to the dragon. She stares back at Hiccup with unblinking eyes, but shows no more signs of aggression, clearly recognising him and letting his hand smooth over her head, rubbing her crown gently. They flicker in response, a good sign; Viggo even thinks he hears her purr, damnit.
Hiccup laughs, but it sounds harrowed. It sounds worse than the anger he’d held for Viggo not even a moment ago. “I… should’ve known, I think. Dragons can pull off all kinds of miracles, I’m learning.”
Viggo slowly kneels beside him. All of Hiccup’s height comes from his long legs, and so Viggo seems even taller sitting next to him. Unconsciously, he drifts closer to Freyja as they talk, “No. I… didn’t want you to know. I told you, didn’t I? ‘I will disappear. You have my word’ .”
It’s not the right thing to say, he realises immediately, and he’s proven right when Hiccup looks at him with anguished eyes. “Viggo…”
Viggo sighs, “I’m sorry Hiccup, but after everything… you deserved peace from me. I put you and your friends, your tribe, though so much, I could never ask for your forgiveness.”
“You didn’t have to,” Hiccup counters, almost sheepish. “I already forgave you. You gave your life for me- well, I thought you did. How couldn’t I forgive you after that?”
Viggo is rarely a man caught speechless, but Hiccup is very good at doing the impossible, so Viggo just looks at him with poorly disguised surprise.
Hiccup breaks the silence between them as they stare at each other, “Why now? What are you doing here now, Viggo?”
Viggo gestures vaguely to Freyja, who sits back and watches the two of them casually, as if this isn’t the most groundbreaking thing that’s happened to Viggo since he nearly died to save her.
“She.. brought me here. We went to Berk first; I didn’t even recognise immediately, but she was trying to find… you, I suppose,” Viggo explains, leaving out his own concern at the state Berk was left in. “I don’t know why she wanted to come here, though. She freaked out earlier today, practically begged me to pack up and fly with her, and I… Well, I don’t have the heart to deny her anything. She’s quite spoiled, really.”
It’s meant to be a joke to lighten the strange tension between them, but Hiccup’s shoulders tense up. Viggo looks at his face and instead of being upset again like Viggo was expecting Hiccup to be, Hiccup looks…
He looks downright heartbroken.
“Have… Have you heard of the Hidden World?”
Viggo pauses in surprise, not having expected the topic change, but deciding to go with it. Hiccup wasn’t the type of man to bring up a concern without going anywhere with it, after all.
“I… yes, I have. My grandfather wasn’t a man who enjoyed tall tales, but he did tell us that one when Ryker and I were very young,” Viggo explains.
Hiccup gives him a knowing look, and his mouth drops slightly.
“Are you saying it’s real?”
“It is, Astrid and I saw it,” Hiccup confirms, oddly solemn over such a discovery, and Viggo doesn’t have time to even think about that before he’s rambling once more. “The dragons… they’re not safe here. We’ve tried, but when we defeat one enemy there’s just a new one around the corner. As long as the dragons are in our world, they’ll always be in danger. It’s… better, this way.”
Viggo feels his stomach drop, because he can tell where this is going now.
“Earlier tonight, well- It’s a long story, I’ll explain everything later, but Toothless called all the dragons to the Hidden World. To go home.”
“That’s why she freaked out,” Viggo whispers, looking back to Freyja. She still has her head in her claws, wings folded comfortably, but she seems to pick up on where the conversation has gone because she’s looking right at Viggo with knowing eyes. She shifts, and then looks behind herself to eye her saddle, before looking back to her rider morosely.
“...That’s why you brought me here, isn’t it,” Viggo asks. “You have to go… and you didn’t want me to be alone.”
She blinks slowly; owlishly, and Viggo completely forgets Hiccup is sitting beside him. He leans down until his forehead is pressed against hers. He can’t stop the way his voice cracks as he whispers, “Oh Freyja.”
She warbles back at him and nudges him back affectionately.
“I… I’m sorry,” Hiccup says, his own voice tight at the display. When Viggo looks back to him, he looks… shocked, which he supposes is fair; Hiccup hadn’t been around to see how their relationship had evolved since they last saw each other, and Viggo isn’t the type of man to show his affections so openly, but he doesn’t care right now when his best friend has to leave. “I-I don’t-”
“Stop, it’s alright, Hiccup,” Viggo sits up, and Freyja crawls forward so her head is in his lap, his knees bent to accommodate her. “I… I can’t imagine it could’ve been easy for you, either.”
Hiccup only shakes his head in agreement, and before Viggo can continue, he’s saying- “Well… she brought you here, to… to me, didn’t she? Does that mean… you’ll stay?”
Hiccup looks hopeful, and Viggo’s heart threatens to stop.
“I…”
“You’re welcome, you know. To stay.”
Viggo and Hiccup both start in surprise at the sudden new voice, before turning around, practically in sync. Astrid is standing behind them, far enough away that she isn’t towering over them but certainly close enough to hear them, her arms crossed and a serious expression on her face. Judging by the state of her hair, she was also awoken by Freyja’s loud arrival, but Viggo can’t see anyone else coming over to the cliff, clearly trusting their chiefs with whatever is happening.
Viggo stares back down to Freyja, where she’s looking back at him with that look on her face when she wants extra fish or just a few minutes more of flying before they settle for sleep, and he can’t help but smile at her.
She brought Viggo to Hiccup because she didn’t want him to be alone anymore… He couldn’t say no to that, could he?
When he thinks about it, he finds he doesn’t want to, either.
Viggo meets Astrid’s gaze once more, “...Are you sure?”
Astrid rolls her eyes, but there’s a hint of a smile, “Well, you’re already here, aren’t you?”
He catches the underlying meaning.
“...Alright,” He says, and it’s worth it for the way Astrid’s eyes crinkle, nodding at the resolution. She gives Hiccup a look that Viggo can’t decipher before she’s heading back towards the village.
Suddenly, Freyja stretches, causing the two men to turn their attention back to the dragon. She stands up and shakes her wings slightly before turning back to her saddle once more, and then meeting Viggo’s gaze expectantly.
It’s time.
“Here, I’ll give you two a moment,” Hiccup whispers. His hand floats in the air, but he decides to drop it before he touches Viggo, instead standing and stretching out his knees before following Astrid, metal leg echoing against the ground with his movements.
Before Viggo himself can go to stand, Freyja is coming closer to him. She noses his chest and on instinct he clutches around her head; he lets out a surprised breath when she lifts him, the same way she had to when he still couldn’t walk after the arrows. It’s entirely self indulgent on her behalf, because Freyja just absolutely loved to dote on Viggo and most of the time he wasn’t in need of it.
So, he lets her have her moment, shuffling against his front and taking in his scent for the last time.
When she pulls away, he sighs and whispers, “Alright then, c’mere my dear… Let’s get this thing off you, shall we?”
She does as asked, and cranes her head to watch as he unbuckles the harness that keeps the saddle snug against her body. He rips it off once it’s completely unfastened, letting the leather and his knapsack slide onto the ground with a loud clinking noise before standing back to give the dragon room. Freyja stretches out like she always does once she’s rid of the saddle, but it feels bittersweet seeing her do so now, a reminder that this is the last time he’s going to see her do as such. If it were daytime, she would probably be rolling around in the grass, and he’s never going to see her do that again either.
He’s never going to see his best friend. The only best friend he’s ever had.
She picks up on Viggo’s sudden emotional shift quickly, perking up and looking over to him, the spines of her crown flattening. She tilts her head and lets out a sad noise, and comes over to him once more. “Oh, I love you Freyja.”
Freyja croons, and when he pulls her in enough to wrap his arms around her thick neck, she obliges, putting her weight against him to reciprocate the hug, not the rarest thing between them but a novelty nonetheless.
“Thank you,” Viggo breathes, feeling his breath on her scales from how far he’s dug his face into her front. His arms tighten and he can feel a sob building up in his chest, but he tries to tamper it down. “Thank you for giving me this.”
When they pull away, she has that knowing look in her eyes; the one she gets when she has to force him to eat when he forgets, or when he’s spent too long fixing their gear that his hands grow calluses. She just has a talent at knowing what he needs at all times, so much so that it once concerned him a little. He’s never allowed someone to know him as well as Freyja does.
And now she has to leave.
He smiles for her, but he knows it’s shaky at best. “If… if you’ll be safer, then you should go. You’ve already done so much for me. Be safe, please.”
She purrs sadly and nudges his chest with her snout, careful with the spines on her chin, but doesn’t linger anymore. She looks over the cliffside, eyes him once more, before she’s taking off.
Viggo doesn’t move as he watches her go, her dark body quickly fading into the night and the clouds beyond.
He doesn’t know how long he’s been standing there until Hiccup is there, walking up slowly in an obvious attempt to not startle him, but Viggo flinches anyway. He looks at Hiccup, who’s smiling in unguarded sympathy and understanding, and Viggo realises in that second that he’s been crying and his face is most certainly nothing short of a mess.
He turns away again to clean his face hastily, hissing at the tears in his blind eye, and silently begs Hiccup not to say anything.
Instead, when Hiccup meets his gaze, he doesn’t say anything except for, “Let’s find you a place to sleep, huh?”
Viggo sighs in relief. “Yes, please.”
“And… in the morning, you can tell me about…”
“Freyja.”
Hiccup nods, smiling at the name. “Freyja.”
“...I’d like that.”