The Gift of the Princess (HTTYD)

Options

Chapter 41: Options

Hiccup walked until he could no longer hear the sounds of the village. Spotting a large boulder, he plopped onto it and buried his face in his hands. Everything felt out of control, and he did not know what he was supposed to do. Toothless whined beside him, but he did not respond. He needed to figure this out. If he this messed up, he would harm numerous people and dragons.

"Hey there, brother."

Hiccup groaned, dropping his hands. "I don't have time for this, Dagur."

"Then you'll have to make time." Dagur attempted to squeeze into the small space on the rock beside him and ended up pushing him over to the edge.

Hiccup glared at him. "I'm serious. I am not in the mood for your games."

Dagur held up his hands in defense. "I'm not playing games. I promise. I just thought you could use a little advice."

Hiccup eyed him warily. Though he meant well, he did not often find Dagur's advice helpful. "And what do you think you know about what I'm going through?"

Dagur shrugged. "I don't know, maybe something about being thrust into the position of chieftain unexpectedly and deal with fears about living up to your father's legacy?"

Hiccup's eyes widened in realization. He had never made the connection, but Dagur had gone through something similar, hadn't he? Maybe he could understand what he was going through. "Okay, point taken. How did you deal with it?"

"Not very well, I'm sure you remember. Compared to me, you're doing an excellent job!"

Hiccup looked down. "The end result may turn out the same, regardless of my good intentions."

"Hey, I had good intentions too!"

Hiccup looked at  him with raised eyebrows. "Really?"

Dagur nodded emphatically. "Sure I did... at first. I tried to be a good chief and show my people I was strong enough to leave. I wanted to protect them from our crazy neighbors who could attack us with their fire-breathing dragons at any time."

Hiccup frowned. "We wouldn't have attacked you."

"I didn't know that. I was overreacting because I was afraid of failing. It didn't help that you tried to hide your dragons from us. I thought you were keeping them as a secret weapon."

"I... never really thought about it from your perspective." To be fair, it had been his father who insisted they not tell Dagur about the dragons. Hiccup would have been honest if it were up to him. "I'm sorry, Dagur. We should have been upfront with you."

Dagur shrugged. "It might not have made a difference. I was set on believing you were against me. I didn't believe I could keep the peace my father achieved. I know I'm not like him. That's why I acted as opposite of him as I could. There was no way I could do what he did, so why even try?"

"I think that makes sense." Hiccup thought about all the times he argues with his father. He thought it was because they were polar opposites, but perhaps there was a bit more to it than that. "I have felt that way as well. Eira was right... I'm not my father. I can't protect Berk like he could. I can't be the chief that he was."

"That's exactly right! And I can never be the peacemaker my father was. I'm not that type of chief." Dagur grinned as if he just revealed something significant.

Hiccup gave him an odd look. "Okay..." There was likely more he had to say, but with Dagur, anything was possible.

Dagur placed a hand on his shoulder and looked into his eyes. "Listen, Hiccup. You can't be a chief like your father. You can only be a chief like you. If you try to act like your dad, you will fail. You need to use your own strengths to lead."