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It was finally the end of another exhausting day.
He could finally retreat to his hut. Retreat to his safe space. Where it was quiet and normal .
He hadn’t done a lot of thinking lately. Everything was moving so quickly and he had to act as soon as possible to prevent large scale disaster constantly. There was no time to think , to rationalise, to genuinely understand what he was getting himself into. He hadn’t thought about the implications of going up against Viggo Grimborn himself. The man who had the biggest metaphorically underground dragon cartel in the entire archipelago. The man who could have anyone wiped off the face of the Earth without a single trace being left behind.
He was a dangerous man. A dangerous, experienced, vile man.
One would assume that becoming Viggo Grimborn’s number one enemy would be a generally bad idea. To any sane individual it would seem like something you would try to avoid at all cost.
But not Hiccup.
Noooooo not Hiccup. Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III was a relatively new participant in the ongoing dragon sales. The only difference being that he was… y’know… on the complete opposite side to Viggo.
Viggo Grimborn had been completely untouchable up until Hiccup and his dragon riders showed up. The man had never experienced a genuine threat to his trade, so when this tiny, lanky, annoyingly sarcastic, sassy, barely grown boy suddenly threatened to leave his business in shambles-
Well… he wasn’t happy.
Hiccup would see and would hear and just generally know about a lot of people that wanted him dead . Just gone . Eradicated . For a while, it didn’t bother him. It was only a few people that wanted him dead. Nothing to worry about. But the amount of threats to his life he would receive were… increasing… quickly… especially over the past week or two.
The more he thought, which granted he had a lot to think about- the more he questioned himself.
What was he doing?
What the fuck was he doing?
He was only 18. He was barely an adult- and- and he had just initiated a war with the literal kingpin of the drug market, the sex trade, the dragon trade, the exotic animals trade-
He didn’t even have any idea what he was doing.
His only objective was- well it was to save dragons. Not become some vigilante justice seeker who took down cartels .
And- and he was expected to lead this apparent charge into war- was this a war? Was- was he even in a war? Or was this just some stupid thing that would be dropped if he just quit now? Or was it futile? Would he end up dead or within the trade himself.
His dad used to tell him stories of well meaning, heroic men and women that would try and fight Viggo Grimborn. Take him down. Put a stop to the sadistic operations he ran. And they’d always end up dead .
Although none of them had even got as close as the dragon riders already had- granted- they were nowhere near taking down the Viggo Grimborn, but they’d gotten closer than anyone else had before.
Probably because of the giant, flying, fire breathing reptiles that were practically glued to their sides.
Hiccup stared at the ground. Deep in thought. Until now, he hadn’t actually even given a thought to just how… for lack of a better word, idiotic he was being with all of this.
He’d plan attacks on a whim, let his emotions interfere with getting jobs done- not be able to admit defeat and surrender in the times where it would be completely pointless to try and get away. He was too prideful at times. And he knew he was. But he couldn’t help it.
He was meant to be a leader, a cold, stone faced, strong leader who had a solid plan all of the time. Well- that’s what he thought he was meant to be anyway-
In reality- he wasn’t. Nowhere near. Really he was just a boy who loved dragons. Not a warrior, not a fighter. Hel- he could barely lift a normal weapon. He had to make himself weapons just so he could be sure he’d be able to use them.
As reality finally hit Hiccup’s thick skull, burying itself into the crevasses of self doubt and uncertainty- He genuinely felt terrified .
There were thousands and thousands and thousands of people within the Grimborn trade. Whether or not they were willing participants was up for debate.
And almost all of them wanted Hiccup dead.
Thousands of people wanted Hiccup dead.
He was not safe.
He would probably never be safe again.
He would always be the number one target for anyone affiliated with Viggo-
And- and his friends were counting on him- they- they needed him to guide them and tell them what to do. They trusted him to create plans and strategise and- and- and to succeed .
In reality, he had no clue what he was doing.
What was he doing?
What had he started?