Chapter Text
The attack on Hiccup’s island base is going way better than last time, Dagur has to say. They’re actually on the island now, Hiccup and his friends might be throwing a lot of unexpected attacks at them but they’re still gonna get to their base at the tops of those cliffs eventually.
Or at least, some of the riders are throwing unexpected attacks at them because Dagur’s beginning to think there’s way less dragons flying overhead than there ought to be. And he hasn’t seen a Night Fury which is weirder.
Must’ve split up.
Looks like his idea to get them off the Edge and go rescue Trader Johann worked somewhat after all. Really, Hiccup. So soft-hearted and so soft headed and so predictable sometimes.
Except that Hiccup’s not here and Dagur’s actually kind of disappointed. He hasn’t gotten to see him for more than like five minutes at a time ever since he got out of prison. It’s sort of annoying. He misses him. Not that that’s ever gonna matter to Hiccup but he still wants to see him again.
Though capturing his super-secret little base that’s not so secret anymore would be a kind of funny surprise for him to come back to. All the riders not being here is either going to make this a lot better or really boring
Not that Dagur still has a clue what he’ll do once they do capture Hiccup but he’s gonna worry about that after he does. It is kind of ridiculous, though. He’s spent three years thinking of Hiccup obsessively and he still hasn’t figured out what he wants with him.
Or maybe he does know, somewhat. Somewhere. Sometimes at least, because he can never make up his mind.
All he’s ever really wanted was Hiccup’s love, which is kind of pathetic but still the truth.
And also never going to matter. And yeah, he wants revenge because he’s really, really mad at him but he still doesn’t know what revenge he wants exactly. Every time he has him captured, he can never quite figure it out.
But he has Heather now and that’s something. It’s the first time he’s ever had anyone all his life, other than Hiccup, and Heather actually came back to find him. What they have actually matters to her, at least. Oh, even if she tried to kill him, but she actually came back so that’s really what matters in the end. Even if he still thinks about that moment a lot.
(Hiccup never did.)
(Can he really blame him? He was awful to him. So, so awful.)
The attack keeps pressing forwards. Dagur’s out in the woods, Heather and some other dragon hunters behind him. And that’s when he hears sudden noise in the brush up ahead.
One of the hunters fires an arrow into the brush.
There’s a very human-sounding yelp and someone runs. Someone really, really tiny. It looks like a kid. Like, a really little kid – definitely younger than ten. Clearly not one of Hiccup’s annoying friends either.
Probably half the age of Gustav, that last rider he captured.
How many kids has Hiccup got out here anyway? Because it’s actually a pretty stupid place for them, especially ones that little. How does his brother not know that?
Oh well.
Might be a little useful as leverage, actually.
The other hunters pause when they see the kid. Yeah, that’s not really who they came out here to kill. Dagur would still like to know what he’s doing out here in a place like this so he gives chase himself, yelling at the others to keep moving.
It’s not really hard to catch up with him, though he’s got to give it to him that he’s fast and really good at hiding. And he’s even tinier up close – maybe six if Dagur had to guess.
He grabs the kid’s arm, yanking him out of hiding. He yelps, kicking and flailing, and then just bites him.
Seriously?
“You think that’s going to work? Really?” Dagur asks, prying the kid’s jaw off his arm.
Okay, it actually hurts a mildly annoying amount which is crazy because puncture wounds are usually kind of fun. Sort of. At least they usually mean he’s getting them because he’s doing something non-boring, so…
The kid looks up, eyes wide and terrified. Now that he’s up close, Dagur can actually get a pretty good look at him. He’s actually adorable. Not that cuteness is something he normally cares about but he can’t help noticing, okay? Almost makes Dagur feel a little bad for planning to use him as leverage. Which is really stupid and he hates feeling bad about things; it makes everything a lot more confusing. And why does something about the kid look so familiar? The brown hair hanging messily in his face and the green eyes, and –
Oh,
Oh.
But that doesn’t make any sense.
“Who are you?” Dagur asks, leaning over him, because for all that the kid looks exactly like Hiccup, that doesn’t even make any sense, does it? Hiccup didn’t get a little sibling in the years Dagur was in prison, did he? Oh wait. This kid has to be older than three, right? Right? Though he could almost have him fooled, with how scrawny he is.
“You have a name, right?” he prods, maybe a tiny bit impatiently, “It wouldn’t happen to be Hiccup, would it? Because you look an awful lot like him. Really. It’s uncanny.”
“Y-yeah,” the kid fumbles out. “I – I am Hiccup.” He sounds just like him, or at least, how Dagur remembers him sounding as a child. And his voice sounds adorable. That’s not even fair. How can his voice sound adorable?
But this doesn’t even make sense. Not that anything about his little brother makes sense most of the time, but still. This?
“The Hiccup I know or some other Hiccup who looks just like him?” He’s got to be sure, okay? Because he’s really confused.
The kid wriggles, like he could possibly be strong enough to pull his arm away. “I don’t even know who you are.”
That must mean…
Actually, what does it mean?
Because if Hiccup was suddenly reduced to a six-year-old, or however old exactly he is right now, he probably wouldn’t know him, would he? And how would that even have happened?
“Dagur?” It’s Heather, pushing her way through the trees behind him, “What are you doing?”
“Ooh, I found the kid and he’s a Hiccup look alike. It’s unsettling. Or maybe he is Hiccup. Who even knows.” He laughs.
The boy’s eyes go wide. Well, wider. “Dagur?” he breathes.
Dagur’s head whips back around.
He knows him. He knows him? Then that means –
“So you really are Hiccup.” He laughs again because this is so completely insane and it doesn’t make any sense but actually, it sounds just like Hiccup to manage to shrink himself more than he already is, “Even tinier than you were before. What did you do to yourself?”
“I – I don’t know. I don’t even – ” He looks around the trees, surrounding them, “I don’t even know what’s happening. Why does everyone keep saying that?”
“Saying what?” Heather asks, approaching. She looks about as confused as Dagur’s feeling.
“That – that I’m not supposed to be… little?”
Ooh, so he’s really forgotten everything then, hasn’t he? “Because you’re not,” Dagur tells him, “You’re not supposed to be nearly this tiny. Not that you ever get much bigger.” He laughs. “Well, not really. How old are you anyway? We must have met already. You were really, really tiny when we met but I didn’t remember you were this tiny. I mean, I don’t think even a human could use a toothpick this small.” Even if it makes him really, really cute. Like way cuter than he already is, which is saying something. “I mean look at you.”
Hiccup shuffles a little. “I – I’m six. We met once, like… a couple months ago?”
First year Hiccup’s ever known him?
So he really doesn’t remember him. Because there’s no way he’d be able to pull an act off this well and why would he, anyway? But that means Hiccup doesn’t remember him. It doesn’t really change much when Hiccup might as well not for how he doesn’t care about Dagur anyway but it still feels a little like losing whatever he thought they had all over again. It still… hurts. Almost unreasonably.
Even if this is also really, really funny. He didn’t come here for this version of Hiccup but there is no way he’s letting him go. He’s too… cute. Honestly. He used to be this cute when he was little? How did he not remember that?
“Ohh, nice.” Dagur crouches in front of him, because leaning over him is starting to feel like talking to someone at shoe height, “At least you still remember that.”
Hiccup backs away a little, looking around, jumping slightly at the sound of more dragon firing and catapult firing.
“No need to worry about that,” Dagur offers. It was a lot easier to think about how angry he still is at him and how much he wants revenge when he wasn’t looking at this tiny little kid.
“W-why are you attacking us?” Hiccup asks. He looks genuinely terrified. Which is sort of…
Well, not exactly something he knows how to deal with? Yeah, maybe he might have tried a little bit to get him to that point in their last war but he can’t imagine Hiccup actually being afraid of him. And this is Hiccup who’s six. He’d never actually hurt him, not when he’s this tiny. Even if he’s still really angry.
“Oh, revenge,” Dagur offers flippantly, shrugging, “What were you doing out in the woods anyway? And all by yourself? Where’s your dragon? Or your friends? No rescue coming yet?” That’s actually kinda weird.
Hiccup’s looking around again.
He doesn’t quite know why he was expecting an answer. Instead, Hiccup just bolts.
Why did he let go of him again? That was dumb. Dagur gives chase, catching up with him quickly enough. He picks him up before he can try diving into the brush again.
“Really?” he complains, “You’re just gonna run away? But we were just starting to get reacquainted.”
“Dagur, we don’t have time for this,” Heather interrupts, catching up with him again, “If he’s not the Hiccup who remembers anything, he’s not going to be helpful to us here.”
Yeah, maybe, not for the attack. But he really doesn’t care about that right now.
“So? He’s still Hiccup. He’s gonna come with us.”
Hiccup squirms. Is he trying to pull away again? When he’s like four feet off the ground? “Why are you taking me?” Hiccup asks, voice sort of panicked.
He doesn’t have a good answer for that actually, when this Hiccup doesn’t remember a thing so he just laughs. “Why not? Why would I leave you in the woods anyway? Your friends really aren’t doing a good job keeping an eye on you.”
It’s gonna be kind of hard to get him back to the boat in the middle of the attack but he’ll find some way to make it work. Somehow.
Heather looks annoyed, though Dagur has no idea why. What was she hoping he was gonna do? Stab him or something? When he’s this cute? Not that he’d stab even when he wasn’t, actually. He… can’t imagine Hiccup truly being dead. Besides, his life would be way more boring without his little brother around to annoy him.
***
A bunch of stupid dragons who weren’t supposed to be here at all show up to attack the hunters so they have to fall back to the boats. Why does that always happen? It’s really annoying. He’d blame his irritating little brother if he could possibly have had anything to do with it this time but he obviously couldn’t just this once.
Because Dagur’s still holding him and he’s actually managed to get him back to the boat, even if he keeps trying to run off.
It’s getting a little bit annoying. Even if it’s also kind of funny to watch his dedication, like it’s even going to work.
When he and Heather pile back into the smaller boat they came here in, he finally settles for holding Hiccup in his lap. What? At least this way he can’t run off again.
He wouldn’t normally do that when other people are around, but hey, he has the really good excuse that he’s only doing it to keep him here. Ooh, and it means he gets to hug him again. Though, it’s actually a lot harder to hug him when he’s this small.
Well, sort of. It just means there’s less of him to hug so he’s got to hold him instead. Which isn’t exactly a bad thing.
Hiccup goes from ceaseless squirming to hardly moving at all once they’re away from the island. Dagur really wants to talk to him but he’ll save that for once they’re actually somewhere a bit more private.
Doesn’t take long to get back to the main ships – though he has to actually put Hiccup down once they’re on board.
“Who is that?” Ryker asks, coming over to them.
“Apparently, he’s a… age regressed Hiccup,” Heather offers, arms crossed. She’s still annoyed. What? She couldn’t really want revenge on Hiccup more than Dagur does, could she?
Ryker looks at them disbelievingly.
Dagur just cackles at the look on his face. “No, it doesn’t make sense but this is Hiccup. Nothing he does ever makes sense.”
“And you know this is him, how?”
“Oh well… he knows me. Couldn’t really make that up. Right, brother?” Dagur pokes Hiccup’s shoulder.
The kid’s head jerks up, blinking at him in what seems to be confusion for some reason, but he says nothing.
Ryker still looks disbelieving. “Well, he will be far easier to contain when he’s like… this. And perhaps far more useful for getting information out of.”
What? No, they’re not gonna hurt tiny little Hiccup.
Maybe he would’ve been okay seeing him when he was older get hit around a little bit like probably would’ve happened if that stupid Zippleback hadn’t shown up, because Hiccup would be way too stubborn to just cooperate, but now?
“About that,” Heather replies, “He doesn’t remember a thing so I don’t think so.”
Ryker looks down at Hiccup. “We’ll see.” He takes a few steps closer. “Where do you have the Dragon’s Eye?”
Hiccup backs away, nearly tripping into Dagur. “What?”
“What you took from the hunters? Where is it?” His glare might actually scare some… wimps.
Well, it might actually scare a six-year-old too.
“I – I don’t know,” Hiccup blurts, “I don’t even know what you’re talking about. Why would I know anything about dragons eyes? Doesn’t every dragon have eyes?”
Did he just –
Dagur starts cackling.
Ryker turns his glower from Hiccup to Dagur.
What? It’s funny. “You’re the one who named that thing, Hiccup. Or well, I think it was you. I don’t know why you named it something so ridiculous but maybe it is kind of fitting. Hmm.”
“I think it’s pretty clear Hiccup doesn’t know what we’re talking about,” Heather interrupts.
“Then he’s useless to us,” Ryker replies flatly.
Wha –
Oh.
“Back off Rykie,” Dagur grumbles, “Hiccup’s staying here with me. If he doesn’t remember anything, he’s not going to be a threat either.”
He doesn’t look happy in the slightest. “Fine,” he says finally, “But if he causes any trouble at all, I’ll deal with it myself.”
Dagur scowls at his back as Ryker walks away.
He doesn’t appreciate threats on his family. Not that he’s gonna deny that Hiccup could be a really big problem, probably even if he doesn’t remember anything, but still.
***
He takes Hiccup down to the room on the ship that he and Heather share. “Our room for two,” Dagur offers, “Well, now it’s a room for three. You can share my bed.”
Hiccup’s gotta sleep somewhere. He actually has shared with him before a couple times on Berk. It was rare but it happened occasionally.
He’s sort of expecting Hiccup to have something snippy to say but he says nothing.
“What? Really? Nothing to say?” he asks.
All he hears in response is a muffled sniffle.
Wha… what?
Dagur looks down at Hiccup. Actually really looks down at him. He’s so tiny now, it’s hard to see his face unless he’s really paying attention to it. But he’s –
Crying?
Hiccup cries?
Why is he…
“Hiccup?” Dagur crouches in front of him.
The kid shifts back a little, head turned away.
“Are you… okay?” Stupid question probably but he’s sort of freaked out which is very not-himself like but he has no idea what to do if Hiccup starts crying. He just never has before? At least, he’s never actually seem him do it before, and this is him when he’s a little so that’s probably different but still.
Ohh, well having to deal with Ryker probably shook him up a lot more than Dagur thought.
Heather’s shifting near them, like she doesn’t quite know what to do with herself. He hates that he can say the same about himself.
Hiccup just sniffles again, and Dagur finally yanks him into a hug because what else is he gonna do?
Hiccup sort of freezes but then leans into it a little, face pressed against his shoulder.
“Don’t worry. You’ll be fine here. Ryker can be really really annoying but you can ignore him. You’re here because I want you to be here, not whatever he wants. I don’t care what he wants.”
He really doesn’t right now.
Hiccup wiggles around a little but finally gives up on squirming. “I don’t even know where here is, or why I’m out here and not on Berk,” he says, voice still shaky. Is he still crying? How does he make him stop? Help. Can’t Heather help just this once? “Or why some people have dragons or what everyone’s fighting about or what you want or...”
Ohh.
Well, he probably is lost about pretty much everything right now. Dagur never thought about that.
“I just want to hug you,” Dagur tells him seriously because it’s somewhat true right now. And what else is he supposed to tell him? Their past history is way too long to even start explaining to a six-year-old.
“Oh,” Hiccup says, head lifting enough to blink up at him, looking mostly bewildered, “Okay.” He chews on his lip, squirming a little again. “But…”
“But what?” he asks, grumpily.
“Um.” Hiccup looks away. “My dad’s gonna be mad at me for getting captured.”
…oh.
That’s what’s got him all worked up? Stoick?
Dagur actually understands that. If he got himself captured by an enemy or something that equally ridiculous, he’d probably never have heard the end of it from Oswald either.
“Ohh, no need to worry about him. If he’s a problem, I can deal with him.”
“How’d you do that?” Hiccup objects.
Really? He wants the gory details? Doesn’t sound too Hiccupy but he’s not complaining. “Well I could stab him or I could use an axe or I could drop him somewhere in the middle of the ocean but that would be really boring. Or I could feed him to a – ”
Hiccup’s staring at him, wide eyed.
“What?” Dagur asks.
“I think you both have different definitions of ‘deal with’,” Heather offers, arms crossed.
“Oh.” Now he’s confused.
Heather crouches next to them finally, very slowly reaching out to touch Hiccup’s shoulder.
He turns his head a little, looking over at her. “Who are you?”
“Heather,” she tells him, with a tiny smile, “I’m – ”
“My sister,” Dagur interjects, “Well, your sister too actually, brother.”
“W…why do you keep calling me that?” Hiccup asks.
Nice reminder that that doesn’t even mean anything to Hiccup, even when he’s the only person Dagur’s had most of his life. The only person he once trusted to never hurt him, because he didn’t think it was something Hiccup was even capable of. He had no idea how wrong he was about that.
The rush of hurt and anger that fills him is too familiar.
“Because we are,” Dagur tells him.
“You’ve known each other for years that you don’t remember,” Heather offers.
Hiccup just… sniffles again.
Wait, he’s crying again? Why is he crying again?
“Are you crying again?” Dagur asks, confused.
“Sorry,” Hiccup mumbles, though for what, Dagur has no idea, “I just – no one… no one would want me as their brother. I don’t…”
“I do,” Dagur tells him seriously. He’s sort of confused, though. That never meant anything to Hiccup in the future. Why does it suddenly mean something now? Or is it just that he doesn’t remember all the… whatever it was that made Hiccup stop caring about him. If he ever cared about him at all. It just means this isn’t gonna last. And even if it’s pathetic, one of the only things he really cares about anymore is Hiccup, but that doesn’t matter if Hiccup will never return it, does it? At least he has Heather. At least she wants him around.
Hiccup hugs him.
Well, about as much as he’s able when his arms are so tiny but they’re entirely unexpectedly winding around Dagur’s neck and clinging.
That is…
Not what he expected?
He doesn’t actually remember Hiccup initiating a hug before, even if he lets himself get hugged plenty.
Dagur hugs him back. Hiccup sort of squeaks and starts squirming. Why does he always do that?
“Um,” Hiccup mumbles, after a few moments, “Can you, um, let go?”
“Why?” Dagur asks, annoyed.
“Uhh.” He squirms again. “I don’t know.”
“It’s late,” Heather pipes up, “If we want to sleep at all before morning, we should probably get to bed.”
Probably. He’s not really tired, even if he did spend most of the night fighting and most of the previous preparing for the attack, but Hiccup probably is. Kids this tiny spend like half the day sleeping, don’t they? Not like he remembers exactly.
And going to bed actually means getting to snuggle him for a while longer so he doesn’t mind too much.
Hiccup curls up next to him without any complaint and he’s asleep in minutes.
He’s about to fall asleep himself when he hears Heather shuffling a little, on her bed on the opposite side of the room. The room is dark other than one still burning candle but it’s still enough light to see that she’s definitely awake.
“Is he asleep?” she asks.
“Are you talking to me about Hiccup or Hiccup about me?”
“I was talking to you.”
Dagur pokes Hiccup’s side. “Oh, he’s faaaast asleep. Like almost dead.” He pokes his arm again. Hiccup doesn’t even stir.
“Well I don’t think you need to wake him up.” She sounds faintly amused. “What do you want with him, Dagur?”
With Hiccup?
Why is that such a hard question? It’s really annoying.
“What do I want with him? Oh, I don’t know.” He laughs. “I want him to stay with us. I want him to care about us. But I still want revenge.”
Because he really can’t look at Hiccup without remembering that he still means nothing to him – well, not his Hiccup. This one isn’t quite the same but he also doesn’t even really remember them growing up with each other. Which makes their differences make even less sense actually.
“But he’s so tiny now. And so cute. And…” He scowls. “What would I do get revenge anyway now?” He can’t think of a thing and nor would it be satisfying when Hiccup doesn’t remember anything. “Hit him? That would break like more bones than he has in his body. Then all he’d do is scream. And that would be really boring.”
Heather makes a noncommittal sound that he can’t decipher, closing her eyes.
Oh well.
They can talk in the morning.