A/N: So, it looks like I'm juggling too many fics again. So sad. T.T I'm trying my best to go back and go update my fics that I have practically abandoned this last year. I suppose that recovering from surgery is the best time to do all of this. *goes to hide under bed* Yeah, my poor NCIS fic chapter is only like halfway done and yet I am pretty sure that I have others to do. Anywho!

Last chapter: Dagur was immensely irritated with his brother for going off on his own and getting himself hurt in the process. Unsure of what the hunters have seen, he is off to try and fix things; leaving a sick Hiccup in emotional turmoil.

Chapter 19: Decisions, Decisions

Toothless hated seeing Hiccup this way. The frightened, no, terrified expression on his face when the door closed had turned into something resembling something much worse: submission. It was almost as if he felt that it was nothing less than he deserved. They had been friends long enough for verbal communication to be unnecessary most of the time. Yes, they had their signals for emergencies or training, but generally they knew each other well enough that things like that weren't an issue. They fought together, ate together and spent almost every waking hour with each other. Honestly, it was a wonder that they hadn't gotten sick of each other's presence.

Toothless paced back and forth, keeping a close eye on the door to see if Dagur would make an appearance. Despite his initial misgivings concerning the Berserker, it seemed that he had grown up considerably in the last few years. Unfortunately, he had always his issues with Stoick, who they had thought was Hiccup's father…but that had become such a complicated relationship. He had caused much strife in his friend's life, from what he could tell. He didn't always understand everything his Hiccup had said about Stoick, but it was always said with a tone of frustration, anger, or depression. It seemed that everything had finally at least ended on a neutral note after the Red Death; however, it seemed that it just wasn't meant to be. Hiccup seemed to be mumbling, caught in the middle of a nightmare that seemed almost as bad as the ones that he used to have following the Red Death and the loss of his leg.

Hiccup's dream

Initially, he wasn't even sure where he was; but soon that all changed and he wished that it hadn't. He was on Berk again, which seemed to be under attack by dragons. It didn't make sense. There hadn't been an attack on Berk for years now; but as he looked down at the water that he stood next to, his reflection was that of his 15 year old self all over again. This was making less and less sense by the moment. Was Dagur being his brother a dream, too or was that just his imagination? Or was this a nightmare and Dagur really his brother? He vaguely remembered them having a fight and his...brother walking away from him. Looking around at the chaos, he noticed that there wasn't a soul around. Stoick wasn't here, and none of the villagers or even Gobber was anywhere in sight. As much as he couldn't put up with the man, he didn't think that he would want him dead or anything. And Gobber was more of a father to him than Stoick ever was, so he had to make sure he was okay.

The smoke got thicker and made it harder to see anything, but he had managed to check the academy, the forge and the great hall, all to no avail. As a last resort, he stumbled to where he was sure he had found Toothless. Everything was getting hard to see as he stumbled more often and the smoke spread. He accidentally slid the rest of the way and saw nothing for a few minutes until he finally managed to sit up and crawl the rest of the way. The smoke wasn't as bad here, he noticed, although he still couldn't find anyone. He figured he'd rest for a few minutes, before trying to search again. In the back of his mind, he yelled at himself for even bothering with a village that had done nothing but ostracized him his entire life. Why was he trying?

When he woke back up, he felt strong enough to stumble to the nearby lake and splashed some water on his face. Looking at his face, he was shocked and a little bit puzzled as to why he was back to what he was sure to be his actual age. This whole experience was just too much. He stared at himself for a few minutes and frowned. He remembered hearing the words of his father about how he wasn't good enough as he started "waking up". He frowned as he looked at the reflection staring back at him, as it seemed to scream "you'll never be good enough". Leaning forward to wipe that smug countenance away, he winced and grabbed his arm in pain. Looking at his arm, he noticed that it had started to bleed steadily as he could do nothing but watch in fascination. He saw the blood slowly go towards the water and cause ripples to form and change the image into something else. He wanted to look away but forced himself to watch in an almost morbid fascination as his fight with his brother occurred in what he thought to be a slow motion loop. He finally lost his balance and watched his reflection grow closer as he fell towards the water and found himself finally waking up.

Dagur watched as Hiccup finally woke up, looking very confused and lost; even more so when he had finally set his eyes on his brother. To be fair, he had basically put him in this room after dismissing him. He should have known that this would happen; Hiccup was always very brave in public, but he always seemed to be so insecure when he thought no one was watching. Dagur didn't even have to glance at Toothless to know that the dragon was practically begging for him to do something. Mentally sighing, he tried not to show how nervous he really was. He had no other family than his brother, and they had been at each other's throats for a good portion of their lives; not to mention that there were only a select few that knew the truth about what truly happened to Oswald the Agreeable. He literally had no idea what to do in this situation and felt like running back out the door now that Hiccup was awake, and it didn't help that he kept staring like he could see right through him. It was like he could see how nervous he was or was trying to figure out why he left him alone in the first place.

Clearing his throat made Hiccup finally blink and try to focus on whatever Dagur was going to say, now that he had figured out that it wasn't just his fever. He knew all of that stuff that had happened on Berk was just a fever nightmare, but he couldn't initially tell if his brother was some kind of hallucination or the beginning of a legitimately realistic dream. He tried to focus as he had finally acclimated to his surroundings again.

"Brother, your uh, little terror, Sharpshot had come to get me after Toothless apparently couldn't get through the window."

Hiccup shot an amused look at Toothless, trying to imagine the poor dragon attempting to struggle through that small area and received a pout and a series of grumbles in return. After they all watched him pout and then retreat to the other side of the room, they saw Hiccup laugh before he started to cough a bit. Toothless raised his head suddenly, looking anxiously at Dagur before whining at the look on his face.

They had no real healer on board, which meant there was nothing to do but wait.

Dagur forced what little cheer he could summon in this current situation and continued.

"So it seems like you trained him really well, brother. He was smart enough not to come anywhere near where I was, until I got back onboard. I think your poor dragon had been waiting for me to come back, but I had been trying my best to contain the situation and told them that there was obviously some nearby dragon that was just trying to raid them for some scraps." Dagur looked at Hiccup and sighed, before wringing another rag in water and putting it on Hiccup's forehead. They were nowhere near a place with ice, not for another day or so anyways. "I hate sounding like a...parent or something, but you're obviously needing some type of rules. Maybe you just want things back to the way they were before? Is that why you're fighting me like this now when I'm just trying to keep all of you guys safe? If that's what you want, then I'll...I'll cover you while you make an escape so they won't go after you."

Receiving no answer, he forced a smile and stood up to stretch. He looked at the two dragons in the room and avoided looking at Hiccup directly.

"Well, I know you're feeling lousy and need your rest, so I'll leave these guys to watch over you. Just let me know if you need anything, I guess." Dagur said, walking out.

Hiccup stared at his brother's retreating form, feeling lost. Did he want to leave? Looking over at Toothless, he seemed to get a disappointed vibe and that confused him. Dagur seemed almost depressed at the thought of him leaving, and he wasn't sure what kind of havoc would happen if he left him to his own devices. This had started out as a mission where he was supposed to leave as soon as he got his information anyway, so why did he feel so conflicted about the whole thing? He should want to go back to the Edge and be with everyone, but he wasn't sure how everyone felt now that they had had some time to properly think about things. Sighing loudly, he rolled over. Dagur was right about one thing. He really was too tired for this. Adjusting the rag, he felt only marginally better and cursed himself for not listening in the first place.

TBC…

Will Hiccup go back to Dragon's Edge, even temporarily? Will Dagur fall into a depression if he does or will he go back to his destructive ways? Meanwhile, what do the Dragon Hunters think of Dagur's explanation?

*facepalm* I feel sooooo disappointed in this chapter. Seriously. It's bad enough that I haven't written in so long, but this is just pathetic. In all reality, it's been a medical nightmare at this house and my muse has decided to abandon me in my time of need. T.T