A/N: Sadness ahead.

Twenty-Six: A First Class Hanging.

Most of the town of Berk was out in the Plaza as Hiccup was led out from the jail, flanked by Marshals Olson and Arvidson, with Larson leading the way. The gunslinger was keeping his head up and eyes fixed on the gallows, silhouetted against the orange and purple and sky and he took a shuddering breath before he was led round to the steps. There were two soldiers on each corner of the gallows, to prevent any last minute rescue attempts...though Hiccup guessed that his friends didn't have the resources to stop an entire troop of soldiers. He paused and looked at the twins.

"You got me a coffin ready?" he asked quietly. "Measured me up?" Ruff winked.

"Told you-we can do it by sight," she reminded him. "And we did you the hour you arrived in town, remember? Six one, no more than one thirty and kinda cute. And...now taken." Hiccup smiled but it was forced.

"So you're ready," he said quietly. There was a hint of defeat in his voice.

"Naw," Tuff said easily. "You're not dying today."

"Tuff-all these soldiers and Marshals say otherwise but thanks for the vote of confidence," he deadpanned as he turned to the crowd, seeking a face that he wanted to take with him to Valhalla. And then he saw her, her eyes shining suspiciously and as she met his despondent green gaze, she pushed forward, running to throw herself against him, arms closing around his lean shape. He lifted his cuffed arms so he could wrap her in his embrace and felt her face nuzzle into his neck before she leaned up and kissed him desperately.

"Hiccup," Astrid murmured, her eyes shining and rimmed with tears. "You can't go. This-this isn't right..." He stared into her eyes, fixing them into his memory.

"Yeah...well, looks like fate finally caught up with me," he sighed. "Figures. I finally come to terms with my past and find the most amazing woman I wanna spend the rest of my life with...and then fate conspires to take it all away." He leaned forward and kissed her again. "Promise me you will look after Stormfly...and you'll find someone else, Astrid. After everything, you deserve happiness."

"So do you," she whispered, a tear sliding over her flawless cheek. "Gods, you of all people deserve happiness..." He took a shuddering breath.

"I guess I had my chance, five years ago," he murmured. "And this just wasn't meant to last..."

"No..." Her low cry was muffled as she buried her face in his chest once more, tears now soaking into his grimy green shirt. He buried his face in her soft hair, inhaling her scent and closing his eyes, tightening his grasp her around her one last time...as hands grabbed at his, hauling her away. She clung to him, her cries pitiful. "No! NO! Hiccup...!" she cried as she was dragged away.

"ASTRID!" he shouted as he was manhandled up the steps, struggling and writhing. "No! Dammit-This is wrong!"

"And yet it's going to happen because it was my judgement!" Marshal Larsen announced.

"BOO!" the crowd called.

"Larsen-you know this is wrong!" Stoick called, staring up at the man who had walked to stand by the Major. "He was on trial before a jury. You never made them vote! You have denied him his rights!"

"The Sheriff is correct!" Fishlegs announced from the verandah of his shop. "This is completely unconstitutional!"

"This whole damned town is unconstitutional!" Arvidson snapped. "I mean, look at you people! You don't seem to have a clue which century you are in!"

"Shame!" came the cry from the crowd.

"And of course, we know exactly which century we're in!" Tuffnut announced. Ruffnut stared at him.

"And which century is that?" she asked.

"Of course, dear sister, that information depends really upon which calendar one uses," he told her.

"Really?" she asked, a smile crossing her face. The Marshals were watching in horrified fascination as Tuff began to walk up and down, adopting a very professorial tone.

"Indubitably, dear sister, for every calendar carries a different start and end point and thus the nomenclature of the centennial timeframe is variable between chronologies!" he announced.

"Huh?"

"For example, use of the Hindu calendar of the Indian people would make this many centuries ahead of our local calendar, as would the calendar used in Judaism..." he began. By now all four Svens were scratching their heads and the soldiers were staring, completely bemused, at the male twin, who was waving his arms wildly while pacing up and down in front of the gallows. Drunken Olaf was drinking from two flasks of mead at once and staring at both accusingly.

"You mean that should, for example we be using the Julian rather than the Gregorian Calendar locally, then we would be in a different century?" Ruff asked. Tuff frowned.

"Um...yeah?" Ruff marched up to him and head-butted him.

"Mutton-head-that would only work if it was like January 1st 1900 as the difference is only like 13 days!" she shouted at him.

"Howabout the Viking calendar?" he asked, looking up at her and rubbing his forehead.

"Which one?"

"Um...the one hanging in the Outhouse?"

"ENOUGH!" Larson shouted, drawing his pistol and firing a shot into the air. "That is ENOUGH!" He motioned to his fellow Marshals and they wrestled Hiccup to the noose. The Major gave a nasty smile as he dragged the rope round Hiccup's neck and pulled the noose tight.

"Just remember-a bond only lasts until death," the Major whispered. "So when you are gone, that dragon is mine!" And he stepped back as Hiccup struggled wildly, restrained by Olson and Arvidson.

"Damn you!" he hissed. "Stoick-don't let him get Toothless! Please...if you owed my Mother anything, you will do this for me! Please..."

"Hiccup Haddock-you are found guilty of dragon rustling!" Larson announced in the gloom, the torches standing by the gallows and oil lamps on the shops and hostel casting light across the grim scene. "You are sentenced to death by hanging. Do you have any last words?" Hiccup stared forward and nodded.

"I did not steal this dragon," he said levelly. "I only did what I had to do because I was denied any justice, any help by the law...for the murder of the man who raised me and the woman I loved, my wife. No one answered for rustling my dragons and killing my family. Yet you waste this energy on framing me for a crime I did not commit. Astrid-I love you...and I'm sorry...Stoick...I'm sorry we had no time...and Fishlegs...tell Leo...I was proud to be his kin!" He swallowed hard. "I'm ready."

The Marshals all stepped back and the soldiers formed a cordon around the gallows as the Major moved to the lever...

...and then a blinding light rose from behind the Dragon Master's shop and everyone cringed back in shock. There was a screech and the blinding shape shot forward, screeching a challenge and zooming low over the gallows, a luminous mist spraying over all the men on and around the gallows. Larson tried to move but found he was frozen, his limbs totally locked though mind and eyes still functional. He saw the blinding shape blast back over and another spray waft over them before the shape hovered and landed neatly in front of the gallows. Leo looked up at the soldiers and the Marshals from the back of his Frightmare and smiled.

"I think we need a retrial!" Leo announced, drawing his pistol, aiming and firing. The bullet grazed the noose as it hung from the gallows. The second shot severed it completely. "Fishlegs-if you would...?" The Dragon Master grinned and opened the door to the yard behind the Dragon Master's shop-and Toothless erupted out. There was a sudden outbreak of scrambling for their lives as the crowd scattered from the formerly out of control dragon...but the frozen Hiccup could see the dragon's big green eyes had wide pupils and his ears were pricked and interested. The dragon glimpsed him and gave an excited warble...then galloped through the suddenly empty Plaza-though the entire crowd were watching from the front of the hostel. Gobber was elbowing people aside to make sure he had the best possible view and hanging onto Gustav, to prevent the boy interfering. However, Astrid was already halfway to Hiccup...until Leo scrambled from the saddle and threw himself forward. He grabbed her round the waist, leaning close and whispering in her ear:

"Wait," he murmured. "Let the dragon prove who Hiccup really is..."

Toothless was already halfway up the steps and onto the gallows, using his shoulders and tail to swat soldiers aside and head-butting the Marshals fiercely away as the dragon nudged against his friend and rubbed his head against the man's cuffed hands. His purr was very loud in the suddenly silent Plaza.

"You cannot fake or force the affection of a genuine dragon bond," Leo announced. "But you can interfere with it if you feed a dragon an eel!"

"Like this one that Toothless regurgitated after he was given the antidote!" Fishlegs announced, holding up the offending fish. "Since the effect of eating an eel is immediate, he must have been given it while in the custody of the Major and his men...almost certainly directly after he sent his man back to the stable with the note during the Trial!"

"Of course, what the Major probably didn't realise is the ultimate effect on the dragon would be fatal if not treated!" Leo announced, turning to face the shocked townspeople before turning back to the Marshals. "And what I am wondering is where he got a Bloodbane eel anyway? They are found in the lake and river above Raven's Point Butte in summer...but at this time of year, you can only get them from the far south-west..."

"So who supplied your eel, Major?" Stoick asked him directly. The man's eyes darted incessantly, his neck corded as he strained in vain to move, to pull the lever or draw his pistol. "And who are you working for? I wired the Government. The 5th Troop of the 19th Nadder cavalry are meant to be in Uglithug territory, conducting a hunt for Gronckle rustlers and Trappers. So are all your men in on the desertion or are they innocent dupes to your treason?"

"Who are you stealing this dragon for, Major Haagen" Leo asked him directly. "Because it sure ain't the government."

"Maybe the person we know is on his way from the south-west to this location, the most feared bandit with his army of dragons and dark riders?" Fishlegs suggested.

"When is Drago arriving, Major?" Stoick asked him gruffly. "And were you to give him the dragon before or after he attacked Berk?"

The Marshals began to look at each other and then at the Major whose face was scarlet with rage and looking a guilty as Hel though they were all still frozen...but Toothless was now very bored and head butted Hiccup hard, knocking him over. He went down with a hard slam and a faint groan escaped through his teeth but Toothless just gave a gummy smile before grabbing him delicately by the handcuffs and dragging him down the stairs. Everyone winced as his head hit every step with a loud thud on the way down. Thoughtfully, the dragon hauled the battered man across the dusty ground until he reached Leo and Astrid...and then he sat up, ears pricked and gave a proud croon as if he had fetched an especially large stick. When that didn't elicit the correct response from anyone, he began licking Hiccup insistently until the man blinked and cringed away from the sticky, lapping tongue that swiped back and forth across his face.

"Eurgh..." he groaned, wincing and lifting his hands to cradle the back of his skull. "Bud-did you have to crack my head on every single damned step?" Toothless gave a sorry warble and the man slowly moved his cuffed hands to stroke the eager and nuzzling face, giving a relieved sigh. "You had me worried there, bud. You weren't yourself, were you?" Achingly, he managed to sit up with Astrid and Leo's help and wrap his arms around the dragon, hugging him fiercely, before turning to drag Astrid into a tender embrace and even more tender kiss. Leo backed away and smiled...as the Major's hand began to move slowly towards his pistol. The treacherous soldier's hand closed on the pistol and he found he could turn his head, lining up on the one-legged man...and the Night Fury rider behind him. Once the older man fell, no one would have time to stop him killing the prisoner...and then the Night Fury would have no rider...and no inconvenient bond...

But as the pistol swung up and the click sounded, Leo turned, seeing the pistol aim at him as his right hand was reaching for his own gun. He knew he wasn't as fast or as accurate as he had been...before Alvin...and he wouldn't be in time...for him. So he didn't draw the pistol...but threw it backwards at the man behind him...

...as he was impacted sideways as something solid hit him at the moment the report of the bullets sounded. A fierce, hot pain knifed into his left shoulder and then he hit the ground, biting back a cry...but Stoick took the brunt of the rounds, slamming into his huge form again and again before he fell....and behind him, unseen by the traitor, Hiccup caught Leo's pistol and fired over and over, the instant he could see the Major. Even half-turned to protect Astrid, each shot slammed with perfect aim into the Major's neck and head and the man flew back, dead even before he hit the wooden platform of the gallows...

The Marshals stared in shock and moved to cover the rest of the soldiers but Toothless was furious, growling and covering them all, his throat glowing with purple plasma in a very graphic warning. Starlight roared in fury as he smelled his rider's blood. There was a rustle and everyone in town produced a gun, covering the soldiers and the Marshals. The forest of clicks of hammers being cocked and 45s being aimed had the Marshals freezing.

"Nobody...move..." Fishlegs suggested, seeing a situation where a hail of flying lead could start any second...especially with the very hot-headed people of Berk. "Gothi...?" The small shape emerged from the shop and began to hobble really quickly to the sprawled shape of Stoick, four huge wounds in his chest. Hiccup stared in shock, seeing Leo down just by him with a large and expanding bloodstain on his shoulder. The older man shook his head.

"See your father," he groaned. Breathing raggedly, Hiccup turned and crawled to Stoick's side, hearing the catch in the man's breathing and the glassy look in his eyes. Suddenly, he found there was a lump in his throat, a weight in his chest that came from knowing this exact same look, nine years earlier, when the man he had called his Dad all his life lay dying after the raiders came through. Now, the man who was actually his father was doing the same.

"Hey...Dad..." he forced himself to say. "I...I don't know what to say. Th-thanks..." Stoick rocked his head to see the young man leaning over him, his emerald eyes shimmering.

"H-hiccup?" he breathed in a very weak voice. "S-son...?" Hiccup nodded wordlessly.

"Why?' he breathed to the big man, supporting this head. Stoick gave a small smile.

"You are my son...and you are right...I failed you. Every way I could, I failed you. And now you came back, against all hope and against all reason...and I could not fail you...could not fail Val one last time..." He blinked, his breathing growing shallower. "At least I can face her now and tell her I saved her son. That he is home..."

"Dad...no..." Hiccup murmured, feeling the dying man's breathing slow further. "I was supposed to die...I had accepted it...not happy but resigned..." He took a ragged breath, blinking hard agains the burning in his eyes. "You can't go. Berk needs you, now more than ever. Alvin is coming...Drago is coming...and I don't know how to stop him. We need you..."

"You'll do fine..son..." Stoick sighed, smiling. "Proud to have called you...my son...for however short a time..." His eyes fluttered closed and he gave one last, shuddering breath before he lay still. Hiccup stared into the slack face and felt a single tear roll down his face.

"I was always your son," he whispered, burying his face in the chest, listening against all hope. But all he heard...was silence.

oOo

The entire town turned out for the funeral the next morning, walking silently behind the hearse that travelled unusually slowly for the twins, who were firm believers in express funerals. Gobber and Hiccup led the mourners, with Astrid and Gustav following, helping Leo along. Then came Mulch, various Svens and the rest of the ornery and very traditional people of Berk. Even drunken Olaf came along-though various people had to keep fetching him and directing him back in the correct direction. And following the humans came Toothless, Stormfly and Starlight, protecting the rear.

At the cemetery, the twins drew up alongside the grave of Valka and Hiccup, the freshly-dug hole neat and ready. The mourners positioned themselves in a huge circle, trying not to trip over other gravestones as the twins gathered their pall-bearers...Gobber, Hiccup, all four Svens, Mulch, Lars and even drunken Olaf to manoeuvre the huge casket onto the leather straps over the hole and lower the coffin into the grave. Gothi clambered down from the hearse and soon by the gravestone, scratching on the dirt. Gobber read the scratches and swallowed.

"In accordance with Stoick Haddock's wishes, he asked to be said the words of the old religion at his funeral," he announced and stared at the mourners, seeing Astrid take Hiccup's hand, leaning against him. The young gunslinger hadn't spoken since his father's death, spending the night curled in the stable with his dragon, Astrid at his side, forcing him to eat and drink. Leo stood alone, his arm in a sling and heavily bandaged. The old blacksmith swallowed, recalling his oldest friend and doing the last thing he could him as he recited the ancient verse.

"May the Valkyries welcome ye and lead ye through Odin's great battlefield," he announced, his voice almost steady. He knew the words by heart, for the men had promised to say the words at each other's funerals...whichever went first. Somehow, Gobber always thought he would die before his friend. "May they sing yuir name with love and fury so that we may hear it rise from the depths of Valhalla...and know that ye've taken yuir rightful place at the Table of Kings..."

There wasn't a sound in the cemetery as every ear strained to hear the words. Hiccup blinked: he had never even known his father still properly revered the old gods.

"For a great man has fallen," Gobber announced, his voice wavering now. "A warrior. A chieftain. A father....A friend." He bowed his head as Gothi nodded and the twins handed round small flasks of oil. She nodded to Hiccup and he frowned.

"You pour it on the coffin," Leo murmured hoarsely. "The last honour for a Chief...or Sheriff...we have no funeral boat but he can still have his pyre..." Hiccup stared at him...then poured the oil over the coffin. Leo, Gobber and Gothi followed, then Astrid and Gustav and a trail of most of the townsfolk. Finally, everyone stood back. Toothless walked to Hiccup's side, seeing his shoulders shaking, nudging and rubbing against his hip comfortingly.

"I-I'm sorry...Dad..." the young man murmured. "I-I guess I wasn't the son you imagined and wanted. And I didn't turn out the way I imagined either. I-I...I don't know what I can do now..." He closed his eyes and another tear slid down his face. "I let you down..." he whispered. "And I-I never gave you a chance. I wish we had more time..." Astrid took his arm and hugged him as Leo limped to his side, reaching over Toothless.

"You know, you were born early after so many losses," he told the younger man, patting him gently on the shoulder. "Your mother feared you wouldn't survive but you were a fighter and your father believed you'd be the strongest of us all. And when you were lost, he was broken, his heart torn from him. He was a shell of a man while you survived and despite everything the Norns threw at you, you finally came home. And when he found out you were his son, come home, he finally began to believe that there was hope, began to show the few flashes of the man he had been. He loved you, Hiccup...he just was the worst man in the world at showing it. And he would never lose you again...even if it meant taking the bullet meant for you."

Gobber stood forward and held something out to the gunslinger: the silver star with SHERIFF engraved across it.

"He would have wanted ye ter have it, laddie," he murmured. "And the Elders met last night and voted ye Sheriff..." Hiccup blinked in shock.

"N-no," he mumbled, shaking his head. "I-I can't..." Astrid lifted her head and stared into his desolate face.

"I think you're the only one who can," she murmured. "The people accept you. You freed them from Dagur and the Berserkers. You stopped Snotlout. You're the only one who could stop Alvin and Drago and save Berk." She kissed him softly. "I believe in you, Hiccup," she told him softly.

Gothi scratched a few symbols in the dirt.

"Ye need tae ignite the pyre, lad," Gobber said softly. Hiccup swallowed and stared down at the oil-soaked coffin then patted Toothless's head.

"Go, bud," he murmured and the Night Fury shot a small purple plasma blast that had everyone leaping back...and flames erupting from the grave. The twins whooped and there were oohs and aahs from the crowd. Hiccup stared into the leaping flames and sighed. "Okay, Dad-you got me. I've been a farmer and a dragon wrangler and a gunslinger and husband...I'll follow you as Sheriff. I mean, I absolutely definitely have no clue what I'm supposed to be doing, what being a Sheriff means...but I guess I can only try..."

And he turned to face Leo and Gothi and Gobber, the smallest look of hope lighting his pale face. A small light reignited in his dulled emerald eyes and he looked more determined, his arm tightening around Astrid. "We go back to Berk...and we prepare to defend our town!" he announced to an outbreak of cheering from the crowd...as Fishlegs came speeding in from the south on his Gronckle, Meatlug, his blue eyes wide with shock and fear.

"Oh Thor, oh Thor, oh Thor! They're coming!" he squeaked. "They'll be here by nightfall!"