The Runaways of Berk

REPERCUSSIONS

This chapter is about life on Berk after Hiccup and Astrid's deaths. It is mostly from Stoick's POV. It is a pretty short chapter but I promise you the next one will hold a lot of drama to make up for it.

Also, the suit of armour they wear is the same as the ones the Defenders of the Wing wear.

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The mountain that was a man slowly opened the door which led to his son's room. His dead son's room. This was how he started his day, this is how it had been for eight years...

He called out his son's name and prayed for a familiar nasal voice with a sarcastic attitude to call back to him. It was a ritual, a morning prayer he made every day to the gods. A prayer he knew would never be answered.

The entire village knew how their Chief's son had died, they all knew and accepted the fact he was never coming back, but he never gave up hope. He never had the relationship he would have hoped to have with his son but he had always loved his son... he only wished he had told him that sooner.

The man himself had changed over eight years, he was still as tall and strong as before, but his large bright auburn beard had streaks of grey. He looked tired and devoid of any emotion, the colour of his clothes had faded away just as his will to live.

As he stepped out his doorway, bending down to not hit the door frame, he was greeted with unusually pleasant weather. Even the gods were trying to make him smile, but his lips stayed the same, unwilling to move. His eyes once filled with life are now drained of any colour.

It was the anniversary of his son's death.

It was the anniversary of the death of a young shield maiden of the tribe.

It was the anniversary of the disappearance of the dragons.

Three things that had happened on the same day, he had always hoped for one of them to come true... maybe it was the price he had to pay for the dragons to leave...

As Stoick the Vast made his way down the well-worn dirt path, leading to the centre of the village, he saw his tribesmen. They had been delighted that the 'little troublemaker' or 'fishbone' had died. Few even had celebrated the young boy's death. They only stopped when Stoick made an example of Mildew...

Only a few such as the Ingermans', Gobber, Gothi and Hoffersons', who had also lost their eldest child, were truly heartbroken that the two had made their way to Valhalla.

It broke his heart that his son had died not knowing that he had truly loved him, Stoick had only been a cold and stoic father to push his son to become a better and stronger Viking. He wished that his little son would return to him he had been smart and small but he was his son and he missed him as much as he missed his late wife.

He slowly walked past the line of houses towards the Great Hall, while nodding in acknowledgement at anyone who greeted him. The villagers were already hard at work to build new houses for the growing population.

He saw Ingrid Hofferson, a battle-hardened warrior, and to see her this broken was a rare sight. Her husband Havlor comforted his depressed wife along with their younger daughter Anna.

Stoick remembered the night his life had changed, when his son and Astrid hadn't returned home, Stoick had ordered search parties to be sent out.

A few hours before dawn they had found a lush green cove with a magnificent lake at the center. The cove was beautiful and majestic, it would have been the perfect place to relax if it hadn't been for what had taken place there.

As they searched the cove, they found Hiccup's dagger in the lake. The find also led to the discovery of dragon scales, one was of a Terrible Terror and the other one was as dark as the midnight sky.