Astrid waited for Vaux to answer, wanting to know what happened, and just how Hiccup had ended up on this island.

"Well, you see…"

Vaux paused as Kala stepped forward, putting a pale and freckled arm across his chest to cut him off as she looked at the Berkians.

"Kala..?" Vaux turned a questioning glance to his wife.

"Shh, Vaux. I'll tell the story. I was his wife after all."

Astrid flinched, her eyes widening as Kala's words registered. She had been married to Hiccup? But Astrid was-

"His wife?" Stoick gasped, taken aback by the woman's words. "But, my son-"

"Your son ran away from what you called his home thirteen years ago. He washed up on our shores twelve years ago, Toothless here," Kala motioned to the great black dragon, "was the one that found him, he was unconscious along with being severely dehydrated and starved, almost dead with the injuries he had."

Stoick gasped. "Injuries-?"

"Yes. Your son had a fractured skull, a broken arm, and he was covered in gouges and scrapes. I have to assume it was from his body being thrown amongst the rocks that make up our shore. The very rocks that tore your ship apart, to be exact." Kala folded her arms, exhaling evenly as she looked down at the group of Berkians. "He would have died if he hadn't been found and rushed to Mery, our healer. It took him months to recover from his wounds."

Kala glanced down, a brief expression of sorrow crossing her face before she spoke again.

"I was around his age, and had no job or assignment in the clan yet, so Mery assigned me to watch over him and make sure he healed well. I spent months at his side. I got to know him well." Kala chuckled, eyes moving to glance at Astrid. "I fell in love with him."

The Berkians were silent, eyes widened with curiosity as the woman before them told her tale, told of how she had known their heir. How she had loved their heir.

"You lot have probably figured it out by now, but I'll say it. Vaux may be my husband, but he is not Elva's father." Kala looked to Stoick, her cool gaze burning into the Berkian chief. "Hiccup was my husband, and Elva was his daughter."

"I have a... granddaughter..?" Stoick gasped, eyes drifting to stare at the arena gate, where Elva had exited with her team only a few minutes ago, eyes widening at the thought of the girl, his newly-discovered granddaughter. "My son is married?"

"Was." Vaux's low tone disrupted Stoick's shock.

The group turned their gazes back to Kala as the woman sighed heavily, eyes drifting to the ground.

"He was married - Hiccup." Kala shook her head, lips dipping downwards into a sad frown. "He left with Vaux to go on a scouting mission when I was eight months along with Elva. Only Vaux came back. We had to have his funeral with no body."

"What happened..?" Astrid was shocked. Hiccup was *dead*? And he had been in a marriage and had fathered a child? That didn't sound anything like the meek and quite frankly, useless viking she had known in her teenage years.

"Dragon hunters." Vaux snarled, his eyes visibly narrowing under his mask as he spoke. "They slaughtered him right in front of me on their ship, and tossed his body overboard. I tried to recover him, but I was too late."

"I... I need time to think about all of this." Stoick brushed a hand through his hair, obviously shaken up by the knowledge Kala and Vaux had given them. "Vaux, I thank you and your people for their kindness for saving us and having your healer look us over, but what will you be doing with us? We need to return to Berk... I have to discuss this with my council... we need to have a funeral for him after all these years.. "

"Of course, that is very understandable. We will be sending you back today, if all goes to plan."

"Today?" Snotlout spoke up. "That's fast!"

"Yes. My men are preparing a ship for you right now. If you all will grace us with your presence for the feast in the great hall, it should be ready to go when you are finished. You should be back on Berk in a matter of days after that, if the sailing conditions keep up. And speaking of the feast, I believe it is time!" Vaux beckoned, gesturing to a Viking, one of the many who were gathered to watch the flights. The Viking nodded respectfully, and yanked a lever which slowly opening the gates go the arena.

Vaux led the Vikings out, Toothless beside him. Astrid quickened her pace, wanting to ask him something.

"You knew Hiccup, right?"

"I knew him well." Vaux tilted his head in thought. "I would go so far as to say he was my closest friend, before he passed."

"Did he..." Astrid hesitated, feeling a warm heat rush to her cheeks. "Did he ever talk about us? From Berk?"

Did he ever talk about me?

"Ahhhh, yes." Vaux nodded. "He did, on occasion, tell me about the many people from his homeland."

Astrid waited for him to continue, but Vaux remained silent, turning his eyes away as the group walked swiftly up to the doors of the Great Hall, two stationed guards moving, with a smile and shared greeting to their chief, to open the door for them, Vaux and Kala leading them inside, with their dragons splitting off to walk to a feeding station that seemed to be just for dragons that lay to the side of the great hall.

As Vaux led the Berkians to sit down at an empty table in the middle of the hall, he called a server over who listed off a selection of foods and prompted the Berkians chose their foods, which was basically just like what they had on Berk, a lot of meats and savory dishes, which excited the Berkians - who had been eating ship foods for the weeks they had been on the ocean before crashing on Drakoak.

As they drank from pitchers of mead and conversed between themselves, Vaux left them at their table, and walked up to a table in the far back of the hall, reserved for just for the chief and his family, where his wife and daughter were waiting.

As he reached the table he leaned over and kissed Kala, before sitting next to her and hugging Elva, who was on his other side. He dug in to his food, - which Kala had ordered for him while he was settling the Berkians at their own table - chatting and laughing with his family while sharing jokes and short conversations with his people who would walk past the table to get food, or come up to share a few sentences with their chief.

Watching from halfway across the hall, Astrid noted that the man didn't take off his mask despite the fact that he was eating, he just awkwardly stuck the food in bits and pieces under the mask, which seemed a very inefficient way to eat, which could have easily been remedied by removing the mask.

Why he didn't take it off..?

His scars couldn't be that bad. Astrid pondered that while the others ate, wondering why Vaux would conceal his face at all times… what was he trying to hide?

Astrid was about to talk to the others, when Vaux walked up with one arm wrapped around Kalas waist, the other on Elva's shoulder.

"You guys almost done?" Vaux questioned.

"Yeah, thank you so much for letting us in on this feast." Stoick nodded his head, showing respect for the other chief, before his eyes drifted to stare at Elva, the chief obviously intrigued by his granddaughter.

Vaux gestured for them to get up from their table, and then he led the Berkians out, Kala and Elva at his side. After leaving the great hall, they walked past the arena and down toward the docks.

Since most of the villagers were still at the feast, the streets were clear, and quiet. Once they got to the docks, two men were waiting for them, a ship at the ready. As the men unfurled the sails, Vaux gathered the Berkians in a semicircle around him.

"It has been a pleasure to meet the chief of Berk, and his people. I only have one request for you, and I do hope that you uphold it, in memory of all my people have done for you." Vaux's eyes glinted behind his mask, staring at Stoick, who paused for a moment then nodded, wondering what Vaux wanted to say.

"I only ask that when you return to Berk, thay you and your people here do not mention our connection with dragons to your people."

Gobber stepped forward, leaning on his peg leg. "And why is that, Vaux? Why do you want us to hide that from our people?"

"You're Berkians." Vaux raised an unimpressed brow. "Possibly the most know clan of Vikings for its hatred of dragons. At the mention of dragons everyone on your island would come running to massacre our dragons and my people. Do you understand why I ask this of you?"

Ignoring the grumbled protests of Snotlout, Stoick reached out and shared a firm handshake with Vaux, sealing their agreement.

"Good sailing." Vaux saluted Stoick as he stepped back, and bowed his head, showing honor for the other chief, before waving at them as they boarded the ship.

Astrid stood by the railing as the ropes attaching them to the dock were untied, watching as the dock got farther and farther away as Stoick and Gobber navigated the ship toward Berk. Astrid noticed that Vaux wasn't watching them, distracted by Toothless. However, Elva and Kala were watching them leave. Kalas eyes unnerved her… They were burning with hate and… relief? Was she glad to see them - to see her go?

Astrid shook her head, wondering why Kala seemed to have so much hate against her.

She turned her gaze to Elva, but couldn't tell what the girl was feeling as the child watched the ship drift further and further away.

Astrid was about to turn back and talk to the other Berkians about everything they had found out, when she saw Toothless playfully jump onto Vaux, knocking the man to the ground and sending his mask flying off of his head.

"Guys!" Astrid hissed, drawing the attention of everyone else on board, who moved over to her - besides Stoick and Gobber, who kept steering the ship. "Vaux's mask, his dragon knocked it off!"

"His stupid dragon is blocking the view!" Tuffnut groaned.

"I can only see his chin but… I don't see any scars…" Fishlegs pointed out.

"Same here, I can see his forehead. No scars." Snotlout nodded. Ruffnut was now balanced on Tuffnut's shoulders, craning her head as she tried to see. Astrid then leaned far over the railing, grabbing onto Fishlegs as she tilted dangerously far over the railing and finally, Toothless shifted to the side to let Vaux get up, and Astrid could see what he really looked like…

"I can see him!"

"What does he look like?" Snoutlout jumped up as he tried to see, but couldn't recreate the position Astrid was in, the woman haphazardly hanging off the side of the boat, one hand gripping the hand of Fishlegs. She squinted and then...

"Auburn hair, I think green eyes? Honestly he looks like, "Astrid paused. "like…" she gasped, as the thought finally hit her.

No.

No way.

Not possible.

He can't-

He couldn't-

But he said he shot down a night Fury, all those years ago…

Toothless was a Night Fury…

Vaux was the rider of Toothless.

Astrid ignored the questions of everyone else and pulled herself back onto the ship. They were getting too far away. Soon it would be too late to turn back. She hurried to the wheel and ran up to Stoick.

"Chief! We need to turn back!" Astrid cried.

"What? Why?! We need to go back to Berk!" Stoick was incredulous.

"Chief… I think Vaux is Hi-" Astrid was interrupted by a thump on the deck. She whirled around, and saw Toothless, Vaux - Hiccup? - on his back, the mask firmly settled over his head, almost as if it had never been removed

"Sorry for the intrusion Stoick, I had just noticed that you, Astrid, left your axe behind…" Vaux twisted to pull an axe out of his saddlebag, Astrid's axe.

The woman stepped forward, reaching to grab it, pulling it from Vaux's grasp with a smile and a few words of thanks.

And then she snapped her fingers, a signal the group had come up with long ago, back in their teenage years.

The other teens jumped at the signal, and then dived at Vaux.

Stoick and Gobber cried out in shock, asking what the young adults thought they were doing, attacking the chief that had saved their lives.

Tuffnut and Ruffnut held Toothless back, avoiding his sharp teeth and claws, while Fishlegs and Snotlout held Vaux down, who was desperately struggling, trying fruitlessly to reach his fire sword, or the twin swords placed on his back.

Snotlout and Fishlegs restrained Vaux's arms, so he couldn't move, couldn't escape.

Astrid, ignoring Gobber and Stoick's questions, stalked up to Vaux, and towered above him, lowering the tip of her axe to the edge of his mask.

She had to find out if what she saw was real.

If he wasn't dead.

"What are you doing?!" Vaux's tone was laced with anger, but underlying that was panic, fear.

"Who are you, really?" Astrid began to inch her axe up, dragging Vaux's mask up.

"No! Don't!" Vaux called out as the the mask lifted upwards, revealing his chin. The previously dignified and regal man was his seeming very unchiefly, frantically thrashing and kicking out, trying everything to escape Fishlegs and Snotlouts grasp.

Hiccup struggled. But it was all in vain. Astrid was pulling his mask off. And he was helpless to stop it.

No. no, no.

The mask cleared his nose.

No. Please. No.

Revealed his eyes. His green eyes.

No no no no.

The mask slid off, clattering to the deck. Hiccup closed his eyes, and dropped his head to the deck, feeling hopeless, knowing that they would have recognized him. Knowing it was too late.

Thirteen years of trying to keep any mention of him from reaching Berk, gone in an instant.

"H…Hiccup?" Hiccup opened his eyes, and saw Stoick towering over him, shock and betrayal displayed across his face.

Before anything else could happen, Toothless broke free from the twins with a furious roar, bursting through the gathered Vikings to reach his rider, Hiccup jumping quickly onto Toothless's back. Hiccup quickly reached down and picked up his mask from the deck, holding the object that had protected his identity for so long carefully in his hands.

Hiccup looked at the Berkians, who were standing shocked, on the deck of the ship. He took a deep breath, before slamming the mask back over his head, his green eyes burning with rage as he looked at what had used to be his people.

"Don't ever return to Drakoak. Or you will feel my wrath." Hiccup spat out, his voice thick with anger, before Toothless flared his wings and quickly rose into the sky, and flew back toward Drakoak, which was by now just a tiny speck in the distance.

The Berkians all stared at each other as the dragon and its rider flew off into the distance.

"He's… alive?" Fishlegs whispered out

"For all this time?" Astrid added.

The group then turned a collective gaze to Stoick.

What where they going to do now?

Berks heir was alive.