11/11/2018

A/N: It is the Centenary of the Armistice, the end of the First World War. And while the main story is completed, it seemed fitting to commemorate the event with one last chapter...

Epilogue:

10th September 1939

Hiccup leaned forward and twiddled the dial on the radiograph on the oak sideboard, making the precise, subdued tones of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain a little louder. Astrid rested her hand on his shoulder as the family gathered around. She could feel him trembling, panicking as he hadn't for many years now, suppressing and conquering his fears and flashbacks. But he had come home from work to be with his family at this time The boys had been sent home as well to be with their family, for Headmaster Ingerman had been warned that the announcement was coming. Valerie rushed in, late as usually and sat perched on the edge of the couch, as unladylike as her mother had been in her younger days.

"This morning the British Ambassador in Berlin handed the German Government a final note stating that unless we heard from them by 11 o'clock, that they were prepared at once to withdraw their troops from Poland, that a state of war would exist between us.

I have to tell you now that no such undertaking has been received, and that consequently this country is at war with Germany."

He sat back in his chair, his eyes closed and tears leaking down his cheeks even as the voice continued, explaining the tale to the waiting Nation and declaring war for the second time in Hiccup's life.

"I had hoped and prayed...that it would be true," he whispered. "All that death, all that pain, all that sacrifice...the War to End All Wars. But it's happening again..." Astrid's hand tightened impossibly on his shoulder, no less upset but better at putting on a brave face. As beautiful as she had been when he married her, her gold hair was sprinkled with a few greys amid the sun bright tresses, in the braided bun that she usually wore. Dressed in a blue blouse and dark brown below the knee skirt, she was always neat and controlled, the perfect wife and mother. And inside, her heart was breaking as her gaze swept over her children, over Valerie, with her auburn hair swept off her face in a flattering bob, her emerald eyes locked on her father. Eighteen-year old Finn was standing beside her, his tall, lithe frame smart in his dark school uniform, his short blond hair and blue eyes the mirror of his mother, though his face echoed his father more while his younger brother Stoick was a little shorter and stockier, his strawberry blonde hair and blue-green eyes a perfect mixture of his parents.

"It seems small numbers of stupid, arrogant people believe that they can rerun the war over and change the outcome," Astrid said in a low voice. "But overall, nineteen million died in the conflict. A flower of the Nation's youth, torn apart by shells and guns."

"Our friends," Hiccup murmured. "I can't do it again, Milady. I-I just can't..." She turned to him and wrapped her arms around him, fingers digging in auburn hair lightly streaked with grey. He hadn't put on an ounce since he had recovered on his return home, though he was fit and walked the dogs every day. His bespoke prosthetic left leg was now a unique piece of engineering, far more advanced than any other in the country and completely suited to his needs. He moved his leg slightly to ease a cramp.

"You're too old, Dad," Finn told him brashly. "It's our turn now!" The engineer's head snapped up.

"No," he said, his tone suddenly firm. "No. I forbid it!"

There was a sudden silence with the voice of Chamberlain still continuing.

"It's our duty!" Finn argued.

"There is a standing army and the professionals will be deployed," Astrid said, her voice not wavering.

"War today is very different," Hiccup added, staring at his sons as if trying to fix their images in his mind. "The weapons are more accurate, the guns are more accurate and there are tanks and aircraft. It won't be two armies in trenches, running into machine guns..."

"But we can volunteer..." Stoick said eagerly as his father scrambled to his feet.

"I FORBID IT!" he shouted. "I will not have my sons spent in the arrogance of political dogma, torn apart for a few yards of muddy earth! You will not enlist. You will continue your schooling and ensure that this country survives. We have already given more than our dues for this country: I will not permit it to have my sons as well!"

Astrid watched as he walked from the room, whistling for Night, his black Labrador and grabbing his coat. They all stared after him as the door slammed and Astrid slumped into the vacated chair.

"Can't he understand?" Finn asked. "I mean, I know he was in the War but he never talks of it. I guess he was just an engineer or something very, very boring. But we're young, we're brave."

"We're from Berk!" Stoick added, his face filled with enthusiasm. "Look, we've heard Grampy talk so many times about his adventures-him and old Gobber..."

"I think...Dad is scared," Valerie said slowly, raising her eyes. "I think Eric wants to join up. He's been speaking about it ever since the news starting coming in of Hitler's advances..." Immediately, Astrid rose and sat by her, her hand twining with her daughter's. Valerie's beau, Eric Eretson, was a handsome young man from the neighbouring town of Hunterton, who had met her at the School dance and had been courting her for three years.

"Oh, I am so sorry," Astrid sighed, leaning against her daughter and wrapping her arm around the young woman. Then she looked up. "Before you imagine war is glorious, before you think about disobeying a man who knows, I have a task for you. You are to speak to someone who lived through the War and find out about the decorated heroes of Berk. Who was the most decorated solider to serve from our town?"

"Well, that's easy-the General, Grampy..." Finn said brashly but their mother shook her head.

"Try again," she advised him. "The army will be sent now and nothing is in place. Think before you make any stupid statements. You know people who lived through the War-people who served. Talk to them before you imagine war is glorious."

oOo

Life was busy and school suddenly filled with additional lessons as various teachers engaged their students with the war effort. History became extremely jingoistic and English focussed on stories of the war and of conflict. Finn, working for his Higher Certificate and Stoick in his School Certificate year were working hard under the tutelage of their masters, though Headmaster Ingerman made sure they were given ample time for games and sports. Valerie found herself busier than ever in the Solicitors' Office where she worked, though she saw Eret most evenings. Astrid began to plan another vegetable plot in the garden, as they had the previous conflict, though their four bedroom house had considerably more land than the old cottage.

But she sighed as she saw Hiccup crouching down, staring at the patch where the poppies were planted, his face pale. Immediately, she walked to his side and took his hand, her fingers sliding between his and waiting for him to speak.

"Snotlout and Phyllis want to come round for Dinner," Hiccup said quietly. "I've said maybe Saturday?" Astrid nodded.

"I'll get a capon," she said thoughtfully. "And the trees have plenty of apples. I'll send the boys round blackberrying so we can have blackberry and apple pie." He smiled.

"I love your pies," he sighed and looked over to her. "Snot wants war contracts-which you can understand really. We sell munitions and war needs bullets and bombs."

"I'll ask Fish and Heather over as well," Astrid suggested. "I think we all need to be together at this time." He leaned over and kissed her.

"My love, it took you twenty years to put me back together and now...we have war once more. Val is only twenty-one, after all..."

"I think her young man is wanting to speak to you," Astrid said wisely.

"Not if he enlists," Hiccup said stubbornly. "I won't allow my daughter to go through the same anguish that you suffered..." Astrid pulled him round to face her, blue eyes meeting green and sparkling with annoyance.

"Hiccup Haddock-I suffered because you enlisted without telling me when I was pregnant with our first child!" she reminded him tartly. "You didn't talk. You let those braying ninnies persuade you that you had to walk into machine guns and suffer Helheim in the trenches to be a man. And maybe I didn't tell you because I was scared about losing the baby-but I suffered so much because we had already lost three friends and one invalided out and you-the kindest, gentlest man I know-thrust into the midst of battle!" He smiled.

"You know, I suspect I am lucky I'm not being locked up in the coal shed for the duration," he sassed and she smiled back at him.

"I need your name on the ration form," she told him simply and he groaned.

"I know my worth, Milady," he chuckled as he leaned against her.

"Hiccup-Val will love who she chooses-as did I," she reminded him. "She is old enough to vote and to marry. She works and she has been courted by Eric for three years."

"I'm still courting you," he pointed out. She smiled.

"Hush, you," she told him. "She's my daughter. She's your daughter. She's stubborn-all our children are. But they are intelligent and will listen-if you speak. Explain why you won't given them your blessing."

"I-I-I can't," Hiccup said quietly, his eyes unfocussing as he stared at the empty patch of brown earth. His mind saw mud, explosions, the ooze rising around him as he lay, badly wounded and buried by the wrecked remains of bodies, mere yards from his own trenches. "I can't, Milady. It means going back there. It means facing it again..."

Immediately, Astrid wrapped her arms around him, feeling his head burrow into her neck, his lanky arms flung around her and body shaking with emotion. Guilt and sorrow filled her and she closed her eyes, holding him tight until he stopped shaking.

"I'm sorry, babe," she murmured. "I am so sorry. I-I guess I can never truly appreciate how horrific it was there-even though I saw you when I got you back. Never forget, my love-I am here. I am always with you. You have nothing to fear."

But there was an edge to her voice and even through his own panic and waking nightmares, he knew she was afraid...because war had come again and now she had her children to lose.

oOo

"Please tell me that you've had better luck than we have!" Finn sighed as he slumped back in the worn chair in the front room of his home. His friends and family- sixteen year old Anna Jorgensen, Darren and Angela Ingerman-twins who were both seventeen and his younger brother Stoick. There was a collective shrug from the teens.

"Mom and Dad won't speak about it but I know they both are upset," Angela said. She and her brother both had their mother's raven hair, green eyes and sharp features but Darren was a husky Rugby forward as their father while Angie was lithe and athletic like her Mom.

"Well, Dad served throughout much of the war and Mom's brother was killed in action," Darren added. He was thoughtful and intelligent-when he wasn't helping his sister prank the Helheim out of the school. As children of the Headmaster of Berk High, they lived in the provided accommodation and that meant they had ample time to set up all sorts of elaborate pranks and tricks for the hapless masters.

"She was crying when the announcement of war came on the radio," Angela revealed. "She kept looking at Darren."

"Our Dad freaked, forbade us to join up and went for a walk," Stoick pitched in, lazing on the couch by Anna, his second cousin. They were good friends and Anna, petite with bright blue eyes and long deep brown hair, was as quiet and thoughtful as her father had not been.

"Dad won't speak," she revealed. "He just went into his office and stared at that picture he has of him and all his friends, the day before they all went off to war."

"They all have one," Darren said quietly. "Dad and Mom were looking at theirs." Finn sighed.

"And our parents," he admitted. "They lost friends, killed in the War." He looked around. "So no one has managed to get anyone to talk?" Tentatively, Anna raised her hand.

"I spoke to Mr Larson at the hardware store," she offered. "He served with Dad and your fathers. He joined up when he was only fifteen by lying about his age-and he admitted he was so glad that the others looked out for him. He said...your Dad, Finn, saved them all on a patrol. They thought he had been killed especially when he tried to save another patrol on his way back. He was badly hurt and ended up coming home. He said...he never wanted to remember the explosions and the friends he lost." Hiccup's sons blinked and shared a look.

"So what do we do now?" Stoick asked.

"We need to do what Mom said-and find out who was the most decorated soldier from Berk," Finn said sternly. "And then you can go and talk to Grampy. He loves you visiting because you've got his name!" The younger boy rolled his eyes but Anna patted his hand.

"I'll come," she volunteered. "He's my great Uncle and he fought as well."

oOo

"Come in Val, Eric," Hiccup said, sitting on the couch with Astrid at his side in the best Sitting Room. A fire was dancing in the grate and Night was curled at his feet, his ears pricked and eyes opening briefly as the young woman and her beau perched nervously on the couch opposite the lean, auburn-haired engineer. Eric glanced into Val's eyes and smiled.

He was a tall, buff man with raven hair and cool hazel eyes, his face even and handsome. He was wearing uniform-not khaki but a mid blue and Hiccup didn't need to see the wings to know the young man had signed up for the Royal Air Force.

"Thank you, sir," he said and squeezed Val's hand again. "I-we-have come here today because I need to ask you something." Astrid's hand tightened on Hiccup's and the man felt a strange protective surge burst in his chest. He could recall the awkwardness of his own talk with Astrid's father, almost thirty years earlier so he straightened up slightly and looked into the young couple's eyes.

"I'm not an ogre-or a dragon," he reminded them. "You can ask me anything." He paused. "Can't guarantee what my answer will be though..." But his lips quirked up in a small smile and he forced himself to relax. Eric cleared his throat.

"Um...as you know, I have been courting your beautiful, smart, spirited daughter since we were at school and I know that she is the person I want to be with for the rest of my life," he began, his voice even and calm. Val's emerald eyes were shining and he felt Astrid trembling at his side. "I have signed up with the RAF because I feel I have to defend my country, the home that I love. I am going to be a pilot and hope that my skills and those of my brothers will keep the enemy from our shores. But I want Valerie to be my wife, to give me that reason to come back, to keep fighting when all hope seems lost."

Hiccup blinked, his mind sliding inexorably back to that day in May 1918...

...buried under bodies, pinned and almost unable to move...the mud was cloying, sucking him down, with all he could to to keep his head above the fluid.... his wrecked left leg bleeding and as he struggled to drag himself up a little, he knew there was no hope he would be saved...the wet cold was already seeping into his body and he was beginning to shiver...so he curled up, resting his free hand over his chest and the precious photograph of his wife and newborn daughter, the image that he had clung to through every battle, every horror and beyond that day until he was rescued from his hell by Astrid in the Spring of 1919...

He looked up with a sad smile, aware that the others were all staring, for he had been hyperventilating, his expression the broken one that Astrid had found him wearing as he struggled in his breakdown.

"In such times, when life is so uncertain and our leaders seem hell-bent on sending their subjects to kill and die far from home, we have to remember what matters," he forced himself to say. "Family. Friendship. Love. Hope. I never wanted Val to suffer as Astrid suffered when I was at War...but Astrid was right...she is an adult and she loves you. So I give you permission to take her hand in marriage. But I expect you to fight to your last breath to be with her. Do not be afraid. And give of your best, in everything that you do. This is not the same war and maybe, the Gods will be merciful and bring you home." Eric rose and his face was filled with a shocked smile. He shook Hiccup's hand and Astrid's and then swung Val around, her laughing face streaked with tears.

"Will you?" he breathed and she nodded, hugging him, beyond words. Astrid leaned her head on Hiccup's shoulder and tilted her head towards him.

"I'm proud of you," she murmured. "I know it was so hard for you..." He gave a wan smile.

"In the end, it was easy," he told her gently. "Because I love Valerie-and it is very obvious that she loves him-and he her. And I meant what I said. In these times, we have to hold onto those things worth fighting for and cherish the joy in our lives." Val surged forward and hugged her parents, her face lit with joy.

"Thank you Mom, Dad..." she said tearfully as they rose and hugged her. "I-I know how hard it must be for you..." Astrid smiled.

"One of the hardest truths about having children is they are loaned to you only," she said. "And love means letting them go to live their own lives, hoping that the teaching and values you gave them are enough to equip them to survive and prosper away from you." She looked into the girl's eyes. "You are my firstborn, Valerie Rachel-named after Hiccup's mother and the bravest woman I know, a woman who sneaked away with the Expeditionary Force because she could never bear to be separated from her brother. Rachel Thorston-not Rafe as the papers record-died in the Battle of the Somme. She walked out into No Man's Land after her brother Timothy was blown to bits in a sortie Over The Top. They were gamekeepers and she fought so well no one suspected until she died. I know you are brave and smart, my love. And we are always here-so if he is stationed away, come home, Do not be alone. I had Heather Ingerman with me because I had no family. You always have me."

Hiccup shook Eric's hand.

"And you look after my daughter," he said sternly and then grinned. "Thor, I never thought I would say that either." Astrid walked over to the sideboard and pulled out a bottle.

"I think a little sherry is in order," she announced and swiftly poured four glasses. Serving the youngsters first, she handed a small glass to Hiccup and smiled. He raised his glass.

"To Valerie and Eric," he said. "To hope and love."

"To hope and love."

oOo

Stoick and Anna joined Finn the Berk Town Archives, helping him scan through the papers covering the war years and afterwards, when the final medals were awarded. And as they read the lists, their eyes widened in shock.

"Dad," Finn murmured "It's Dad."

"Well, he got the British War medal and the Victory Medal-as well as the Silver War badge for being invalided out," Stoick read. "But look at the rest...sixteen mentions in dispatches, Military Medal twice, Distinguished Conduct Medal twice and...Thor. The Victoria Cross."

"What?" Anna gasped. "Uncle Hiccup has a VC?"

"It was awarded in recognition of his actions in saving the patrol, fighting off a German patrol single handed and in saving three men of the patrol that wandered into No Man's Land despite already being seriously injured," Finn read. "Oh my Thor. Grampy Stoick accepted on Dad's behalf because Mom refused to go."

The three teens shared a look.

"We need to talk to Mom," Finn decided. "Because we really need to talk to Dad."

oOo

The engagement party for Valerie and Eric was a small affair, though the Ingermans and Jorgensens attended with their children. Eric's parents had moved to the Highlands before the War and were not keen to travel because of the shortages of petrol and the threat of air raids. So Astrid and Heather split the cooking and made sure there was a roast, cherry pie and madeira cake to celebrate. General Stoick Haddock-in his mid Seventies but still hale and brash, for all he was a little deaf-was the guest of Honour, bringing his aged mead to toast the young couple. Everyone was happy, joyous and optimistic. Finn was very admiring of Eric's RAF uniform and the fact that the man was going to train as a fighter pilot and Hiccup felt his chest tighten in anxiety. He knew his sober brand of sensible advice and concern for his son couldn't compete with the thrills and prospect of adventure in the life of an RAF fighter pilot and he was starting to fear that his older son would sign up once he finished his Higher Certificate, eschewing the University that Hiccup desperately wanted him to attend.

Once the meal was finished and the desserts had been polished off, the party were all crammed into the Sitting Room, the younger generation perched on the floor or on cushions while the elders took the seats. Stoick Senior supped his mead and gave a big grin. He was still large though he walked with a stick and his flaming beard was more grey than red now but he still relished being with his family.

"Dad," Finn started, looking around. Darren and Angela nodded and Anna took her father's hand. Hiccup looked at him and felt his stomach lurch. "We have been looking into what we could find out about the Great War-because now we are at war again, we need to know what happened."

"We won," Snotlout said swiftly, sipping his mead. His wife Phyllis-a solid woman with kind grey eyes and a comfortable face-squeezed his arms and he nodded. "All you need to know."

But Hiccup knew it wasn't true. When he was younger, he wouldn't take anyone's word without more information. It was 1939, not 1839! And he looked around his friends. Heather slipped her arm through Fishlegs' and leaned close to him, her eyes closing in memory. Astrid rose and opened the sideboard, pulling out a buff cardboard box and placing it on the floor between her and Hiccup. He shook his head but she lifted the lid off anyway. She pulled out a framed photograph of the friends as they looked, that autumn day in 1914.

"Here we are at the start of the war, when our friends signed up to go to the Front," she said, turning it round to show to the youngsters. "You recognise Uncle Snot, Uncle Fishlegs, Aunt Heather, Dad and I." And then she paused. "These two are Timothy 'Tuffnut' and Rachel 'Ruffnut' Thorston, our friends who signed up. And yes Rachel was a woman who pretended to be a man to go with her brother. They were both killed in the Somme. And this is Dagur Bazerk, Heather's older brother. He died a hero, fighting off an attack and saving Snot and Fishlegs." And then she showed the second picture, the image she had treasured for so long. "And this is your Dad, when he signed up in 1917."

"Why so late?" Stoick junior asked. Hiccup gave a low groan but Astrid grasped his tightly clenched hand warmly.

"He was in a reserved occupation-a munitions engineer-and he made sure Berk Munitions and Engineering produced the best shells and weapons to support our troops," she said. "He should never have gone-but he was subjected to taunts and accusations of cowardice because he wasn't fighting. Snot had been injured and the twins and Dagur were gone so Fishlegs was all on his own. Your Dad lied so he could sign up to be with him."

"We know your service was extremely distinguished," Finn said. "We checked. You got the Victoria Cross."

Everyone stared at him and only Stoick and Astrid didn't look shocked. Hiccup nodded.

"Yes," he murmured. His children rose and stood before him.

"You know-we would never have known," Valerie said. "Because you never talk about it. None of you do. And you never even wear your ribbons even at the Commemorations Day Services."

"Dad-you are a hero, someone who has done the most amazing things-and you never talk about them..." Finn added.

"None of you do," Darren added, looking at his father. Fishlegs gave a small shrug.

"It was horrific and tragic and now...proven to be futile," he said. "Why would I want to revisit that? When I came home to Berk, I returned to life. I never want to go there again."

"Why would any of us?" Snotlout added, his voice suddenly soft. "You have no clue about the shelling, day after day. The mud. The gas. The disease. The deaths. More and more people dying. And having to attack, again and again, running into the guns. And never thinking it would end..."

"Then make us understand," Stoick begged his father. His green eyes widened and his father felt fear fluttering in his chest. The images swirled around him and he shivered-but Astrid's hand found his and as he twined his fingers with hers, he was reminded that she was always with him. That he was safe and loved and never going back. It was in the past.

"We who served don't speak of the horrors because we live with the legacy every single day," he said clearly, his eyes sweeping over the room. "We never wanted you to share in the things we endured. We thought our sacrifice was going to ensure that. But maybe-just this one time-if I speak, you may understand why I-why we-are so set against you boys serving in this war." Fishlegs, Snotlout, Stoick Senior, Heather and Astrid all nodded and the younger generation settled down as Hiccup looked at them-his family and friends. He was safe and home, he reminded himself. And nothing would ever change that.

Gathering his courage and feeling his wife lean against him, he sipped his mead and then nodded. In the end, he needed to speak to try to save his sons, as he had fought to be back with his wife and daughter. And he was no coward, no matter what people had wrongly intimated back during those feverish years. Astrid looked up and opened her other hand, quietly revealing the pressed poppy he had sent her, faded but still a symbol of hope that he would be with her once more. Brushing a kiss against her cheek, he smiled and felt her support once more.

So surrounded by love and hope, with his family and friends listening and sometimes helping, even as around them, the world descended into war once more, Hiccup Haddock gathered his courage, faced down his demons and began to speak, telling his tale of the War...

A/N: Many First World War veterans never felt able to speak about the horrors they endured and went to their graves, carrying their experiences in their hearts.

"Lest we forget."