Dark Despair (Book 2: Together Forever)

Worth it?

Darkstar's POV

Hiccup... is... gone.

I had watched Toothless and Astrid leave and that's when it had sunk in. I saw one tear slowly making its way down Delta's face and it was soon followed by a river. 

She started missing wingbeats when I grabbed her. She stopped beating herz wings after that.

I carried her and set her down gently on a boat.

"Delta?" I asked her.

She curled up on the deck. 

"I know what it's like, Delta. To be helpless to save your family. Let me be here for you unlike how no-one was truly able to be there for me."

She looked into my eyes, "How do you get over this feeling of sadness? This feeling of guilt?"

"You don't. You can't stop feeling as if there was something you could've done. Nor can you stop feeling the pain of loss. But, the pain and guilt grow quieter over time. They grow dull until it's just a memory and just an ache. You learn that you feel as if you could've done something differently, but in truth, you know you couldn't've."

She stood up and walked over to me and I just held her in my wings.

After probably an hour all of the dragons cheered. Word must've gotten out about Drago and Grimmel being gone. I saw Sky fly up to me.

"Where is he?" She asked.

"Who?" I was pretty sure she was talking about Toothless, but I wanted to make sure.

"Toothless. Who else?" I looked down at my claws.

"He went looking for Hiccup."

She looked confused, "Why would he go looking for Hiccup?"

"Because Astrid and Toothless don't want to believe that Hiccup is..." I choked on the last word.

She was still confused. Then Delta walked forward, "He's dead!" She yelled and broke down into tears again.

Sky's jaw dropped. I comforted Delta again.

Then Hiccup's human family, Dawn, Streak, Moon, and all of our friends from the Island of Night showed up.

Honestly, things just keep getting better! 

"Sky? Where's Hiccup?" Rowan asked.

Sky was too striking to respond. So I said, "Hiccup... Died."

Their reaction was immediate. All of our friends from the Island of Night stopped and stared. Moon, Dawn, and Streak came and helped me comfort Delta and each other. Valka and Rowan joined them. And Stoick didn't understand.

Moon, Dawn, Streak, Valka, Rowan, and Delta started sharing stories about Hiccup. 

Dawn spoke first, "Hey, remember that time when he ate an eel while he was a dragon."

"Oh yeah! He thought that he could eat eels while he was a dragon!" Moon chimed in. "He didn't go near the water for a week!"

They started to laugh.

"Did he ever tell you about the time when he wanted to play with dragons!" Valka started.

"No! Tell us!" Everyone else said in unison.

"Well, he woke up early enough to sneak out of the house and then he let the dragons out of the arena and started playing with them. Then I woke up and found him gone and heard shouting from outside. Everyone else had weapons out ready to hurt the dragons. Then I told Hiccup he had to let them leave. Stoick wasn't happy about it." 

"No! That's such a Hiccup thing to do!"

"Remember that time when he shifted for the first time!" Streak said.

"Oh my goodness! That was hilarious!" Dawn and Moon said together.

"What happened?" Asked Delta.

"While Toothless and Hiccup were out rescuing some dragons. But Hiccup got caught in a net and somehow turned into a dragon! Then we showed up and we didn't know who Hiccup was and Hiccup couldn't fly because he didn't know-how. He somehow managed to shoot a plasmablast through the netting and get out, we spent the rest of the day teaching him how to fly." Streak finished.

"You know. Even if we didn't really know each other. I mean I only knew him for five years. I'm going to miss him, a lot. I already miss him," I told them.

Everyone nodded, suddenly melancholy again.

"We're going to give him a proper funeral, right? A real one?" Delta asked.

"Of course, we will, Dear. What kind of mother would I be if we didn't send him to Valhalla properly?" Valka said.

"Send who to Valhalla?" We all turned around quickly because we'd forgotten Stoick was there.

"Dad... Oh, my gods! We forgot you don't understand Dragonease! I'm sorry this is just too much to take in right now!" Rowan broke down into tears and then everyone else did. Even me.

Valka started to speak but Delta cut her off."I have to do this, Rowan. Mom."

"Delta..." She gave me a sorrowful look.

"What..."

"You don't have to do this."

"No. That's where you are wrong. I do have to do this." She took a deep breath and shifted. "Dad..."

"Delta? What just happened?" Stoick asked.

"Dad, I'm the dragon princess. I can turn into a Night Fury, speak their language, and understand them. I will explain later. But, right now..." She grabbed his hand while tears fell down her face, "I need... to tell you... something. And you need to listen." She took a deep breath, "Dad, Hiccup's dead."

He looked at Valka, "Is it true?" He asked her. Valka nodded.

We stood there, crying until Delta said, "I need to go." She shared a look with Moon, Dawn and Streak. They took off.

7 hours later

Astrid's POV

"Are you sure we need to do this?" Stormfly asked me.

"Yes. If you don't want to come with us then Toothless and I will find him and you can go back to the Hidden World."

"Fine! Suit yourself. I'm coming with you."

"We're going to find him, Astrid. He's out there. At least, I think he is."

I nodded. I had to believe that he was alive and out there. Somewhere. Waiting for us to find him. Or looking for us.

Stormfly rolled her eyes.

"Are we going to stop and rest soon? 'Cause my wings are exhausted. How you Night Furies can fly such long distances is beyond me."

"Well, if you must know. We fly fast and cover a lot of distance and take as little breaks as needed. It helps us build up our endurance and wing strength. Maximizes our speed."

Stormfly again rolled her eyes at Toothless.

"Hey, did Hiccup mention to you that we're getting married?"

"Really? He never said. But, then again we didn't get a lot of time together before... you know."

"Yeah, he asked me on the same sea stack he told me about him being the dragon prince."

"That's so typically, Hiccup." Toothless snorted. "Anyway, congrats. I'm happy for you. And might I just say, called it!"

Besides the mood that still hung over us. I laughed. So did Stormfly.

A few minutes passed and we fell back into silence. We'll find you, Hiccup. I will find you. I promise.