The Return of the Dragons

Part 43 Toothless - Hiccup POV

"I'm so sorry Viggo. I - I know how that feels. Only... I've always had Astrid. I've never lost a wife. So really it's not that you don't know how I feel, but it's exactly the opposite. I'm so sorry about Freya and about Carina. You must miss them terribly."

"I do Hiccup." Viggo replies. "Every day." His face has a very sad expression on it and a tear threatened to leak from his moist eye but I can tell he's not letting it. "But do remember," he continued, I met Freya and Carina was born around twenty years ago. If I ever see my Carina again, I don't believe I'll recognize her. She must be all grown up now. She probably won't even remember me."

"I think she will." I reply, "You had such an impact on her. You were her world for seven years."

Viggo flinches and actually let tears fall. "And she was mine."

"How could she forget that?" I continued. I suddenly got this earnestness I wasn't expecting. "She dreamed about you being hurt and came to you crying about it. I know what it is to have a daughter - love you that much. When they're born you feel like you're bursting with love... but it's even more special when they... when they love you back." I pause for a moment. I begin to miss my little girl more than I can bear and tears are now coming to my eyes. Well this is pretty! Here we are two full grown men crying like babies. But I don't care. "And as for you recognizing her," I continue. "I think you'll know her when you see her."

"Yes, perhaps I will." Viggo muses. " You know I told you she reminded me of her mother? I think when I see her it will be like seeing Freya again." He pauses and smiles, apparently reminiscing his little family he had for a short time unlike me; I have had mine for much longer now and... maybe I've taken them for granted. I begin to think of my Astrid. I left my poor darling at home to cry over our Sieglinde, our missing children and now myself having left also and not too sweetly for that matter.

As I am sitting pondering if there are some things about my life and my family I need to rethink, Viggo stands up and seems to be preparing himself for something. "Well," He says, "If we are going to find our missing children than we had better not just be sitting here.

"Huh?" I ask looking up as I was only half listening. "Oh! Yes! We should be going." I say and hop up quickly on my feet.

"Well then," Viggo said. "What do you say chief? Which way shall we go?"

'Well I haven't been that way," I say gesturing across the chamber.

"Then shall we go?" he asks.

"Certainly." I say and we walk together toward the passage on the other side of the cavern using a torch he had lit for a light. As we walk down the passage I notice that we are beginning to descend deeper into the earth as we go until I begin to wonder if we should turn around and find a different way to try to exit. But before I have an opportunity to say anything I am further astounded by the torches I see beginning to line the walls of the passage. We finally come into another chamber of vast proportions, but this time it is mostly filled with water. Rock lines the sides all the way around.

However, it appears that this chamber is not uninhabited for on one end of the cove is a sort of building, half built into the rock and half built outside of it. Torches line the walls. But what interests and disturbs me the most is a black mass floating in the water. It is small, no bigger than a small cat. But I know better than all that. I know that black mass anywhere. It's Toothless!

"Zephyr!" I cry and without thought, without delay, I plunge into the black water. I snatch Toothless up in my hand and under him I search everywhere for my daughter, though I can't see a thing. All I can think about is that she might be drowning and I have to save her. "Hang on Zephyr! Daddy's coming for you!" When I run out of breath I surface, but when I come to the top, I hear something I didn't expect to hear.

"Hah! Good thinking Haddock! Who knew you were so clever?" Rings a voice that isn't Viggo's

I turn and try to look though water floods my strained eyes. I see that all around us are armed men all with their weapons aiming at us.

"Get out of the water!" the head of them roughly orders. I obey and climb out of the water though my heart aches to think of my baby girl. I hold tightly to Toothless and tears come to my eyes.
"I will get this back to you baby girl, I promise!" There is no use in resisting, at least not now.