So it seems many of you have been waiting for the return of When In Rome and wow I was not expecting 100 views in the first 24 hours. Alright, I have expectations to uphold so this will be fun. If anyone has any questions or comments, PM me or simply review it. I need as much feedback as possible to get back to how it was before. Enough, let's get to it shall we?

The skrill still screeched in Hiccup's mind as he sat with the others and Dagur's inner circle. He ate unconsciously and was the first to rise when Dagur suggest that he be shown a demonstration of Dagur's elite guard. Anything to distract me from that… thing, Hiccup thought as he left the table and followed Dagur out of the dining room. This time, everyone accompanied the two.

Toothless had taught Hiccup to use silence as a weapon of destruction and a tool for strength so that's what he did, find strength in silence. He took the chance to take in the surroundings.

Dagur was at the head of the group, with a palace guard on each side and gloating about the palace's magnificence and grandeur. To the group's rear, Fishlegs was having a discussion with one of Dagur's senators. Something about the structure of the palace and how such a large place can be kept functional. Good, distract a diplomat and slip away. Meatlug stood in the area between Hiccup and Fishlegs at the center. She kept glancing at Hiccup with a worried look.

He quickly turned his head and mouthed a silent "I'm fine" to the healer and turned back to the front and followed Dagur's lead around the corner. Toothless stood somewhere in the group, the man seemingly melting into the shadows even as distinguishable as he was.

"What business," whispered Toothless to Hiccup's left. He had sidled up to Hiccup unannounced but the young warrior was too troubled to even care.

Hiccup simply nodded no and looked at his mentor. "Another time," he attempted to plead with his gaze. Luckily, Toothless understood immediately and remained silent for the remainder of the trip. Now, if only the other northerners would learn by example.

"Who taught you to fight like that Fury? It's most definitely not any Romanian fighting style," said the red headed woman from before. She stood to Hiccup's left, looking at him with a harmless smile that was anything but.

Before Hiccup could answer, he noticed Toothless step ever so slightly away and his pace changed. Toothless never backed down from anything, especially not a small woman who doesn't even look like she could pick up a sword, let alone use it against a seasoned warrior.

I'll ask later. Then he noticed that Meatlug had gone frigid as well and stayed at the back of the group. What was going on?

"Fury?"

Hiccup had forgotten about the question.

Fortunately, he was brought back to the present and blinked the thoughts away, taking in his surroundings. They had made it to one of the palace courtyards. This was was currently occupied by a small group of Roman soldiers, all in small groups and fighting hard. Hiccup could tell these were not standard military soldiers. Their weapons were better crafted, their armor was light and allowed for easy movement and made entirely of leather. Each soldier had the skrill insignia on their shoulders and on the right sides of their chest.

Dagur noticed Hiccup's wonder and answered the unasked question. "This is my elite guard. Trained to service me in civil affairs that require more than a diplomatic approach," spoke the emperor, "Each of these men have been trained to be the best. They lack a bit of brain power but who needs it when they have me to lead them?" He laughed maniacally and turned towards the servants and other diplomats when he noticed they were not laughing with him.

In a matter of seconds, the entire courtyard was filled with laughter, giggles, and chuckles. The only ones who stayed silent were Dagur's elite guards, Hiccup and his friends, and the girl.

"Now, a demonstration! For my honored guest" yelled his majesty. At the word, the sparring ceased and each man stood side by side in a line. Other than their varying sizes and choice of weaponry, the men looked identical. Dagur looked at Hiccup and grinned.

"I am truly honored," stated Hiccup with a bow. With a quick glance, he noticed the girl watching him. Quiet, calculating, dangerous. She reminds me of….

Toothless walked forward into the courtyard and walked along the line of guards. He held eye contact with each of them and stopped at the end of the line. "Your majesty," he said with a turn to face Dagur. Everyone was silent and eager to see what the walking mystery had to say. Even the servants' hushed whispers ended.

Dagur tilted his head slightly, confused and seemingly caught off guard.

What are you doing Toothless? Hiccup opened his mouth to speak but Toothless beat him to the punch.

"I would like to take on the best of your elite. Please, it would be an honor to fight before you," Toothless bowed before the audience and when he stood up, held Hiccup's confused gaze.

This wasn't the plan.

"I assume you would like to fight my guard? Ok then… choose one peasant," said Dagur with a wave and turned to look at Hiccup. He almost spoke a word, but yet again Toothless was faster.

"I choose you,"

This definitely wasn't part of the plan.

Now the courtyard was silent. The gentle breeze that was previously blowing through the palace ceased and left, taking all noise with it. All eyes were on Toothless. He stared at Dagur with determination in his eyes, a silent challenge. Nobody said a single word. Even Dagur stayed silent. He simply shrugged and walked into the courtyard.

The elite guard left and took positions around the courtyard and stood completely still, as if they were statues. Each one watching their emperor and his challenger intensely. Weapons were still in their hands.

Hiccup's body moved forward to intervene without a thought , but he was stopped by the little girl. "Not so hasty gladiator," she said with a teasing tone and a gentle hand to the center of his chest. "Stopping a challenge made on the emperor would be disrespectful, especially in his own home… you wouldn't want to do something so stupid would you?"

His heart raced in his chest and his head pounded. Hiccup leaned against the nearest wall and did as the woman said. He let the challenge go on. She took up a position close to him and smiled. It was pretty, and that made it all the more disgusting.

Toothless and Dagur stared at each other in silence. Servants ran forward and handed each fighter a weapon. For Dagur, his axe and surprisingly for Toothless the servant handed over a longsword. Toothless looked it over and swung a few times.

"You said you were northern," Dagur started with a smirk. "My associates tell me that is a standard weapon. I hope it is to your liking," And with that, he attacked.

Gripping with both hands, Dagur struck at Toothless with a powerful swing aimed for the northerner's stomach. Toothless easily stepped out of the axe's range and raised his longsword in a defensive position. Again Dagur attacked, this time aiming to take Toothless' head but he again missed. This time however, Toothless went on the offensive and slashed at the emperor's midsection. Dagur jumped backwards and touched to where Toothless had slash. Hiccup couldn't see because Dagur was facing away, but when Dagur put his hand back on the axe hilt there was a small red mark on the fingers. Blood. Oh no.

"Oh I like you. Show me more," said Dagur now grinning like a maniac. A deranged maniac. He and Toothless lunged at each other and from then on, it was a clash of sword and axe. The sound of metal against metal screeched through the courtyard. Even the servants stopped doing their duties to watch.

Hiccup stayed silent and watched every movement of Dagur's. He had seen Toothless fight multiple times and had fought him every once in a while. He had never won, but that's besides the point. Dagur however… he was another story.

Toothless rolled away and swiped at Dagur's feet only to miss and cut through air as Dagur jumped over the swinging blade and grinned. Hiccup could see Toothless' surprise at this. Nobody should be able to match his fluid speed, but Dagur seems to have been trained against it.

"Your friend has not lost his touch. Maybe a bit sluggish but still… magnificent,"

The girl was the one who commented. And seeing as nobody else had responded, Hiccup assumed it was made towards for only his ears.

"Who are you?" he asked, finally fed up with this girl's mystery.

"Oh I go by many names darling," said the woman. She turned her head and looked up at Hiccup. Her hazel eyes boring into his green ones. When she did, Hiccup felt something click. How could he have been so blind?

"I'm the queen. But my enemies call me Red Death," she said. "Nice to make your acquaintance, Hadrian Haddock,"

Fishlegs was shaking in his boots. Not from the unconscious guards on the ground, the small pools of blood leaking from their heads, or from the amount of laws he had probably broken. Oh no, Fishlegs was trembling for an entirely different reason.

"You could've left some for me," complained Astrid to Fishlegs' right. He refused to look at the woman because of her attire. Hiccup had warned Fishlegs that the girls would be masquerading as pleasure servants of some sort but still… nothing could have prepared him for this.

Normally, Romans would be naked. As they were humanitarian, so Fishlegs was no stranger to the human form. He had even spent his own free time watching and detailing the human anatomy. However, there was something about the thin silk-like fabrics that set Fishlegs off. Why couldn't have just been naked? It would be so much easier.

"Shut up and start reading, the faster we get through this the faster we get to leave," answered Heather from behind Fishlegs. She and Stormfly were in similar attire. Each girl was wearing nothing but two simple shafts of fabric, loosely covering their breasts and crossing above the naval before wrapping around the waist twice and joining as one long fabric piece between their legs. Astrid's was a deep blue, Stormfly's a moss-like green, and Heather's a grey that reminded Fishlegs of dull silver.

Hiccup had made it clear that Astrid was his after Snotlout made a rather rude remark this morning about the girls' attire. Fishlegs was sure that Stormfly and Toothless had something between them, judging from the extra glances he threw at Stormfly when she left to enter the palace. But Heather...he couldn't take his eyes off her.

She reached up and moved an onyx strand of hair behind her ear to better read one of Dagur's journals. She silently mouthed each word to herself and was completely oblivious to the nerd watching her every movement and motion.

What was his reason for being here again? Something about a conspiracy.

Snap. Snap. Snap.

"Hey lover boy," said Stormfly. She was holding a scroll in each hand, one bigger than the other, and shoved them both into Fishlegs' empty hands. "Get to reading, Toothless should be here to join us sometime soon,"

Oh right. Now he remembered.

After sneaking away from Dagur and his entourage of officials, he had met up with the girls and quickly dispatched his escorts. They were now in Dagur's office, if that's what one would call a large unorganized room littered with all manor of weapons, random parchments, plates with unfinished meals, and the occasional bottle of wine. Everything about this place screamed Dagur.

Fishlegs quickly shook his head and began reading with the girls. He skimmed anything with Dagur's handwriting in search of keywords and information. Letters, decrees, even an order to kill one of the servants for bringing him a plate of fruits that was, as Dagur had put it, "Arranged in the wrong order. The grapes and the apple were in the wrong place." He had to read that twice and make sure he had done it correctly the first time. Nope. It was right. The grapes and apple were apparently in the wrong place. Poor servant.

He felt fingers brush his arm and turned. Heather was standing next to him at Dagur's cramped and mess of a desk. "Hey, what are these symbols? They aren't Ro-... Fish. Fish. Hello?" asked Heather while waving her hand in front of the big man's face. He had gone quiet, and had a dumb look on his face.

Think, think. Pretty lady, serious situation. Don't screw up, he thought. Fishlegs stood up straight, looked Heather in the eye, and said probably the dumbest thing ever to pass through the genius' lips.

"I want you to be the mother of my children," The entire room went silent.

Astrid stared at Fishlegs and blinked. She was currently kneeled down on the floor and looking through the papers, but stopped to watch this awkward interaction. Fishlegs, realizing how stupid he just sounded, said nothing and broke mentally. He found the deepest, darkest corner of his mental state and curled up in it. In that moment, he wishes he was the one to go up against the Bewilderbeast in Hiccup's stead. The only ones unphased were Stormfly, who was looking out of a nearby window, and Heather who blushed furiously but had a small smile splayed across her lips.

She leaned forward, kissed the juggernaut's cheek, and whispered, "Maybe when this is over," into his ear before walking away and bringing the paper to Stormfly's attention.

Fishlegs and Astrid just stared at each other. Neither of them saying a word, letting silence speak loud enough for them both. Fortunately, it was broken. Unfortunately, it was not broken for a good reason.

"Guys," stated Stormfly without taking her eyes off of the window and whatever was happening outside. Fishlegs and Astrid got up to join her and gaped at the scene. Toothless was in a courtyard facing off against Dagur, and Hiccup was leaned against a wall with an innocent-looking red headed woman.

"Toothless is supposed to be here with us? What's he doing fighting against Dagur?" asked Heather, still completely unphased by recent events.

"I'm not concerned with that. I'm concerned with the smaller woman Hiccup is talking with," said Astrid. She looked at the woman with disgust and anger that Fishlegs had only ever seen from Alvin or Snotlout. Except Astrid made it to times worse.

"Why? She looks nice," he asked, curiosity getting the better of him

"That's the queen, or as she prefers to be called, Red Death," answered Stormfly. Everyone turned to look up at the woman and were surprised. Why would she know who the queen was?

As if aware of the unspoken question forming in the Romans' heads, Stormfly turned to look down at them all.

"That's the Red Death, the queen. And also Toothless' sister,"

And that's a wrap for this chapter. Been a bit busy and out of it since i last posted. Also working on a personal project that may or may not be published. But i'm not entirely sure. Either way, I do have plans for this story still and there are still questions that have to answered. This will be interesting.

Pack Ink, signing out.