Disclaimer: I don't own HTTYD

A/N: Well…this is embarrassing. I swear I wrote a different ending where only Toothless was taken away, but now I can't find it. I must have accidentally deleted it, unfortunately. However, I (sort of) promised you guys a bonus chapter, and TheWhisperingWarrior gave me an idea for one :)

Since I skipped through the aftermath in the previous chapter, think of this as a sort of short (for once!) flashback taking place during that period.

Warrior or Whisperer – Chapter Seven

At the end of the day, it had all turned out rather well, all things considered.

The dragon's names had been cleared for the storehouse theft. Ragnar and Flare Twirl had come to an understanding; the other Icelandic chieftains, even the stubborner ones, had conceded to tell their tribes not to hunt dragons and to use dragon-friendly methods of keeping them at bay. Their dragons had not been stolen…well, they had, but they'd been rescued, and were none worse for the wear.

All in all, Hiccup felt pretty good about the way things had turned out. It didn't seem like there were any loose ends to tie up…until he was talking to Eret about the peace talks with Flare Twirl. "I'm glad they could sort things out" the man smiled, "but you know, boss, you ought to be careful who you bring into the web. I mean, for everyone who thinks it's an amazing trick and immediately obsesses over dragons like you do, there'll be assholes like Isak who try to take advantage of you."

"I know that, Eret. I'm not going to tell everyone I meet about it; and you know I get a migraine if I do it too much. But I think sometimes I might have to bring people into the web; it makes things so much easier. And for the record, I don't obsess over dragons."

Toothless and Eret gave each other he's kidding, right? looks.

"Might also make things harder, too" Eret remarked, "but I see where you're coming from. It's a pity you can't give us the ability permanently. How come it worked with Astrid and your folks?"

"I guess…cos they're family?" Hiccup shrugged. "I don't really know how it works. I don't even know why dragons can understand human speech at all. I mean, they don't talk any differently than we do, so maybe that's why, but it still doesn't make much sense" he admitted.

Eret grinned. "So you're messing with stuff that you don't understand? What could possibly go wrong?"

"Ha, ha" Hiccup deadpanned, before smiling and remarking, "It all turned out for the best, really. Everyone's accounted for, our dragons are safe, there isn't an angry mob coming after me"-

"Yet."

"- and nobody had to be exiled." Hiccup finished, ignoring Eret's little jab. Yes, the traitors had been punished, but given what could have happened to them, they had really gotten off easy.

Eret nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, I suppose all the loose ends are tied up" he agreed, before adding, "Well, except for one, of course."

Hiccup gave him a questioning look, and Eret simply said, "Isak. Aren't you going to talk to him?"

Frowning slightly, Hiccup couldn't help but say, "Somehow I don't think he'd want to talk to me. Besides, what would I even say to him?"

"Uh, 'I'm sorry' would probably be a good start" Eret remarked.

"Sorry for…? I mean, I'm over the whole kidnapping thing. He was desperate, I get that, and we escaped…Wait, are you talking about his brother getting killed? I feel sorry for him, but I'm not the one who" –

Eret held up a hand to cut him off. "Don't take this the wrong way, boss, but you sound really arrogant right now" he said bluntly. Hiccup looked slightly insulted, but before he could protest, Eret continued, "I'm just saying you sound arrogant. I mean, you feel sorry for him? That's another way of saying you pity him, and that's the last thing he'll want. I know you don't mean it like that" –

"Well of course I don't mean it like that" Hiccup couldn't help but cut in, feeling a bit defensive. "I don't…it's not pity, I feel bad for him. If I lost someone close to me, I'd feel terrible – but Eret, that doesn't mean it's my fault! Adulfr started that war, not me."

"Yeah, I know that. But the thing is, boss…it was one of your dragons that killed his brother. You and Toothless are the Alphas – anything your dragons do reflects on you. Badly, in this case" Eret pointed out. Hiccup frowned but said nothing, realising that he was right.

Eret winced a bit and added, "Also, I hate to say it but…maybe the reason he's so against you and Toothless is because you are the ones that killed his brother. Not deliberately, obviously, but still."

Like any hard truth, it wasn't something he wanted to hear, but something he needed to. Whether Hiccup liked it or not, Eret was right; one of his subjects had killed Isak's brother, which meant he was at least partly responsible. He sighed. "You're right. I should…I'll talk to him. And Eret? Thank you, for, y'know, keeping me straight."

Eret smiled and clapped him on the shoulder. "Anytime, boss."

Isak was sitting in his prison cell when he heard footsteps approach. He looked up at the sound, only to see the person he least wanted to – and the man's dragon. "Oh, it's you. Come to gloat?" he asked bitterly.

Hiccup and Toothless stopped a few feet from the cell. "No" said Hiccup, "we came to apologise."

Isak looked sceptical. "I mean it" he continued, "I'm here to apologise. As the leaders of our dragons, Toothless and I are responsible for what they do. Adulfr might have started the war, but it was one of our subjects that killed Hafni. I know this won't change anything, but all I can do now is apologise on that dragon's behalf."

He hesitated, chest tight, but he had to ask. "Isak…" he began, and the man looked at him sharply. "The dragon that killed your brother…was it Toothless?" He had suspected a little that it might have been, given Isak's animosity towards them, but he hadn't wanted to acknowledge the possibility.

Isak rolled his eyes. "Don't flatter yourself; you're not the centre of everything, you know" he retorted. "No, it was another dragon that killed my brother, not your pet."

In the same moment, Hiccup felt both relief and indignation on Toothless' behalf. "He's not my pet" he replied automatically.

"Even though you ride on his back."

"I mean it. Toothless isn't my pet…he's my brother" Hiccup insisted, putting an arm over Toothless' shoulders. The dragon purred affectionately and curled his tail around Hiccup in a similar gesture.

The other man looked less than impressed. "Oh, great, so you're a sentimental liar" he scoffed, "Wonderful".

"You know, I'm trying to be nice here" said Hiccup; he was getting a bit impatient. Deep breaths, Hiccup. Don't let him get to you. "I'm not lying, Isak. I really did come here to apologise" he insisted, "I called you out for not coming to talk to me, but I didn't even try to reach out to you. I just assumed you wouldn't listen. That was arrogant of me and I…I should have been more open minded. So I'm sorry."

Isak looked at him for a long moment. "Well, at least you're willing to admit it" he said finally, and Hiccup had to fight to keep his face impassive. The man was getting on his nerves. "But I wasn't talking about your apology" Isak added, to his bewilderment, "I was talking about the other lies you've spewed since you got here."

Now he only felt insulted. "What? When did I – what lies?! I suck at lying. Ask anyone."

"Oh really? First it was 'dragons can understand us when we talk'. Then it was 'I can understand them too'."

"You weren't even supposed to know about that!" Hiccup protested, "If your spies hadn't been eavesdropping on us" –

Toothless nudged him and crooned comfortingly, imploring Hiccup to calm down. *Don't get angry. He's just trying to get under your skin*.

Reigning in his emotions, Hiccup stroked Toothless' scales to calm himself. Once he'd regained his composure, he cleared his throat and turned back to the cell. "Those weren't lies, Isak. Dragons can understand us, it's like a…a magic translator. I think it's because they…they're telepathic" he explained.

Isak gave him a disbelieving glower. "Do you really expect me to believe that?" he asked rhetorically. "You might have fooled the chieftains, Dragon Whisperer, perhaps even some of the townsfolk, but you won't fool me. You're nothing but a liar, a charlatan. And before you say anything, I already heard about how you trained your dragon to nod and shake his head. It's no different from me training my dog to sit, lie down and roll over."

Again with the pet thing. "Is it really so hard to believe?" Hiccup asked, a bit exasperated. Now who was being close-minded? "Even if you don't believe me, are you really going to hate all dragons because of what one of them did? We were at war. Dragons aren't mindless killers; they're kind, and loyal. They're people, Isak."

"They're animals" Isak retorted immediately.

"We're animals" Hiccup shot back. He didn't expect that to be well-received; the first time he'd been faced with the idea, he hadn't known what to make of it. Ages ago, back in the Night Fury nest, Obsidian had asked him why humans looked and acted so differently to other animals. He'd genuinely been bewildered by the question, because he'd never thought of humans as animals.

So Luna had asked, if humans weren't animals, what were they? He'd not had an answer. The dragons pointed out that humans were made of flesh and bone, they had to eat and drink, they could see, smell and hear (just not very well), and they were born and died; just like any other animal. No matter what, Hiccup hadn't been able to refute it.

Humans were animals; unique, in their own way, but so was every creature. It had been a somewhat uncomfortable feeling to realise this; not that he'd ever thought of himself as a gift from Odin, or something ridiculous like that, but he'd been taught that he – that a human – was special. It hadn't taken long for Toothless to assure him that of course he was still special, even if he was another animal like them.

Isak just scoffed when he heard that. "Oh, I'm sure the hulking fire-breathers you surround yourself with are always on their best behaviour" he said mockingly.

Why am I even wasting my breath with this guy? Hiccup asked himself. The answer? Because you can never leave well enough alone.

Fair point.

"What….happened, to your brother?" Hiccup asked cautiously. He had a feeling it all came back to Hafni's death. That was why Isak was so against dragons, and it probably had something to do with his adamant refusal to at least entertain the idea that dragons were smarter than they seemed.

Isak glowered at him, clearly wishing looks could kill. "That's none of your business, dragon-lover. You and your 'brother' should just get back to wherever it is you come from, and leave me alone" he declared, turning his back on them and staring fixedly at the stone back wall of the cell.

Hiccup sighed; what else could he do? "I talked to your chief" he couldn't help but say. "He agreed that this tribe just isn't ready to live with dragons. I never meant to…I guess I've gotten so used to having them around, I'd forgotten what how difficult it was when we first started living alongside each other. So…you don't have to worry about that anymore." Then he turned on his heel and walked away.

He and Toothless hadn't quite made it to the door when they heard a cry of "Wait!"

Surprised, Hiccup paused with his hand on the doorknob and looked over his shoulder. Isak was standing at the bars again, his hands wrapped around them. Through gritted teeth, he said, "I suppose I…accept your apology, and I…admit I may have acted rashly, before" he admitted grudgingly.

*May have?*

*Shush* Hiccup told Toothless. Aloud, he said cautiously, "Well…no harm done. Err, apology accepted."

Isak nodded. For a few awkward moments, they just stood there, looking anywhere but directly at each other. Finally, just as Hiccup was beginning to think he should leave, Isak suddenly asked, "Can you really understand them?"

Hiccup frowned, puzzled. "I thought you didn't believe me?"

"I – I don't. I merely…" Isak cleared his throat and put on a haughty air. "Answer me this, then, Dragon Whisperer. If dragons can understand us, then why would they not spare a man who begged for mercy?"

Hiccup sighed. "Even humans don't always spare each other" he pointed out. "Dragons don't think the way we do; they're more driven by their emotions. They can understand us but, because we can't understand them properly, some of them see us as…beneath them. They wouldn't spare humans because they don't think we're anything special." He had no idea what else to say.

"I'm not sure if it would be better, if he had been killed by a creature that could think, rather than a bloodthirsty beast" Isak remarked, frowning. "At least with an animal you can blame it on instinct."

"Isak, for every dragon that wouldn't spare a human, there are so many more who would. If they were ordinary animals, then I'd understand you treating them all the same, but they are anything but. Humans are all unique, and so are dragons" Hiccup tried to explain.

Isak looked at him for a long moment, before finally saying, "Prove it."

Taken aback, Hiccup stammered "W-wait, what?!"

"You heard me. Whatever you did for Ormar, do it for me. Prove to me that you're not a liar, and I'll let bygones be bygones" Isak declared, spreading his hands in an open-palmed shrug.

Beside him, Toothless bristled a bit. "How do I know this isn't about you using me?" Hiccup asked warily, one hand moving to rest on Toothless' shoulder in reassurance.

Isak gave him a long-suffering look. "My reputation is ruined, Haddock. Nobody would believe me; nobody would even listen. Look…as much as I hate to say it, you were right. Holding a grudge was getting me nowhere; but I can't move on until I know the truth. I need to see for myself that my brother was slain by a…a warrior, not a beast."

Hiccup swallowed, and looked at Toothless. *Should we?*

*I still don't think I trust him* Toothless replied, glancing at Isak. *I don't want to let him into the web. Isn't there something else we could do, if we really have to?* he wondered.

Hiccup's brow furrowed in thought…then suddenly, he had an epiphany. "Isak, listen" he began, "I'll prove it to you, on one condition. You don't tell anyone about this. Even if they won't believe you, don't tell them. I'll keep your secret, so long as you promise to keep mine."

"My secret?"

"I'll step outside, and Toothless will stay here. You tell him something only you know, that I couldn't have guessed, and he'll tell it to me. Then I'll say it back to you, but not to anyone else. So…do we have a deal?" he asked, reaching a hand out to shake.

Isak hesitated, then reached between the bars and shook Hiccup's hand. Hiccup left and waited outside, far enough that he wouldn't overhear anything accidentally. It wasn't long before he heard Toothless calling him back, and returned.

His dragon told him what Isak had said, as the man himself watched them with wary confusion. At last, he turned to Isak and revealed, "You didn't see Hafni die, but your men told you he was killed by a Fi- a Monstrous Nightmare, that he begged to be spared but the dragon…bit his throat anyway" he finished solemnly.

Several emotions flicked across Isak's face in a single breath; surprise, grief, rage, even curiosity. He took a step back, his jaw tightening as if t stop his chin from dropping to his chest. His eyes slid from Hiccup to Toothless and back again. "I…and you weren't listening?"

"I promise I wasn't. I know I can't prove it, but" –

Isak waved it off. "That is what I…and you…but how?"

"I can't tell you how I do it" Hiccup insisted, "I didn't even tell Ormar that much." Yet the man had guessed it on his own….Hiccup tried not to show his discomfort. He had just been talking to Ormar earlier that day about being more careful with whom he told about this. Was he making a mistake?

Well, if he was, then he'd just have to deal with the consequences. He couldn't do nothing for fear that something might go wrong; that wasn't the way he did things.

"The dragon, that killed your brother…they were wrong" he told Isak, "and when we get back home, Toothless and I will make sure everyone in our pack knows that they should spare people if they ask for mercy, even if they're human, and even if it's a battle. I can do that much for you, Isak; I can make sure your brother didn't die in vain."

He waited silently for everything to sink in, absent-mindedly stroking Toothless' scales. At last, Isak raised his head. "Thank you" he said. He wasn't suddenly okay with it all, but now that he understood...

Hiccup and Toothless respectfully dipped their heads to him. "You're welcome…goodbye, Isak. Send me a message with Eret, if you ever need to. Come on, bud" Hiccup beckoned, leading his dragon from the door. Toothless paused and looked back at Isak, conveying with his stare alone a warning; betray us, and you will pay.

Isak met his gaze unflinchingly, and nodded, drawing a finger across his lips and flicking them away. Recognising the human signal for I'll keep your secret, Toothless purred in satisfaction and followed his other half out of the prison. As the door closed behind him, Isak sat on the bunk in his cell and wondered when the Dragon Whisperer would remember that he and Ormar were not the only ones to learn of this secret…