Bonds passed Differences-An Honor

It was noon of a unusually warm fall day when Hiccup had heard his father screaming out in a frenzy from the kitchen down below his room and he and his Night Fury, Toothless, bound down to see what was the matter this time.

"Dad, What's wrong?" Hiccup asked in concern.

"THE BLOODY CELTS ARE COMING!  And a royal family is visiting from the south.  Said that they "Accepted my invitations" for a meeting of peace and the "Show of the Century."

Hiccup was obviously confused, "What meeting of peace?  What Show?!"

His father just looked at the letters he had just received from the messenger and shoke his head, "I don't know, I did'nt even invite them here.  I don't have the slightest idea what they're talking about.  Anyway, they're already bound to be on their way and we are NOT prepared for either of them." 

The chief, Stoik the Vast, kept looking at the letters while Hiccup thought about what he should do.  Normally, his father would tell him what to do in this sort of situation, but Hiccup was not sure if he would be able to find a way out of this.  Hiccup would most likely have to hide the dragons again to keep things calm like he did when Dagur the deranged visited in the place of his "retired" father.

Before he could further process his thoughts, his father said to him, "I want you to hide the dragons again and this time make sure they're ALL under control."

That was EXACTLY what Hiccup was thinking after that exact same time Dagur had visited, he almost killed Barf and Belch, the twins, Ruffnutt and Tuffnutt's, Zippleback, and used its blood as ink.

"Then, I want you to gather your friends and anyone else you can find and tell them to prep this place up.  I want the yaks cleaned, the sheep sheered, the boars in the forest, the pigs kept in the pens, and I want every corner of the tribe spotless for the families arrival."

Hiccup was, again, confused, "Why, Dad?  Can't you just tell them that it was all a big misunderstanding?"

His father turned to face his son from the table, "Aye, I would, son, but one of the families we're dealing with is celtic; the royal family of DunBroch."

At this, Hiccup began to groan.  The celts and the vikings were'nt exactly friendly with eachother at the moment.  You could say they were just a misunderstanding away from an all-out war.  If they were told of the fact that the chief of the Berk tribe had not invited them, they might believe it an insult and would probubly go home to gather their friends for a massive attack, not the kind of thing Berk could afford this year.  For some reason, it stopped snowing at its normal time in the spring and its just gotten colder without a hint of snow.  Mildew claimed once again it was the dragons presence that the gods had decided to make it stop snowing for Berk, not that it was necessarily a bad thing, but it was less fun and less normal then what Berk was used to.  Some even said that it was a sign of an apocolypse, which Hiccup had doubted it would be.  Still, he could'nt help but feel that with the lack of snow, something was missing from the mix.

Hiccup ignored that feeling to do what his father had told him to do.  He and Toothless went outside and called the riders to start gathering the dragons again.

"Celts?!  Here?" groaned Snotlout, "This is going to be a disaster."

For once, Snotlout said what all the riders had been feeling about the news.  Even if they were to behave, the vikings and celts still had a bit of bad blood between them.  It would take a lot more than a peaceful meeting and a treaty to wash that away, it would need a possible marriage between the two families and hearing upon the one called Merida, Hiccup was'nt entirely sure of giving it a shot.  Besides, he was in love with Astrid, though he would'nt admit it.  She was the toughest, smartest, most beautiful viking on the island, why would he give up on something like that?  Because, he was a skrawny, weak, and clumsy oaf when it came to women.

It's true that he had gathered strength and respect since he became friends with Toothless and the riders looked up to him, but in the back of his mind, he sometimes thought that if he never became friends with Toothless, would he be at least half the viking he had become because of the Night Fury?

He pushed the question out of his mind as he only told everyone what his father had told him, "He said that it would be better this way then if we told them that the invites were staged.  I don't think I have to tell you guys why's that, do I?"

Hiccup looked at Astrid, who would usually have the wisdom to ask, but this time she just nodded her head and was silent.  She was as scared about the thing as he was.  If the Princess of DunBroch were to fall in love with Hiccup, they would have to dissappoint and that would set things off as bad as the fake invitations to Berk.  So if the family of celts were to arrange a marriage between the two, Hiccup might be forced to accept it and that would mean losing the chance to be with Astrid, something neither wanted (Though, again, they would'nt admit it).  They went on the rest of the day to gather the dragons, clean up their rooms and prepare a place to stay for the two families.

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It was hot under the sheet and the restraints did'nt really help.  Since his capture, his tormenter had been trying to break him for the rest of the year and the spirit could only fight against the tormenter's plans and listen as he made a plan to gather three royal families in the spirit's honor and use the spirit as the "Prize of the Century" hoping that the showcase he had planned for Berk would be enough to scare the families into surrendering their lands and homes-possibly a princess or two-and gaining more power than the one he had stolen once he took the spirit's staff from him.

He had no idea how this could've happened.  All he knew is that he grew curious of the young chief's behavior as he willingly turned the good dreams the Sandman gave him into hideous nightmares and as he was about to stop it before it got to serious, the black dust had hurt him somehow.  When he awakened the chief, he fled only to find himself weakened from the black dust the chief's nightmares created.  After a few weeks, he felt normal again and he told the Sandman of what happened that night.

The Guardian of Dreams told him to never again approach the boy and keep away from the dust the chief's nightmares had created, and if the spirit were to ever find dust like that again, he was to report it straight to the Sandman without hesitance.  After the first encounter with the substance, the spirit agreed to the Sandman's terms without a second thought.  He was just returning from that talk when he was captured and put into restraints that bound his body to a knees position and his arms were bound behind his back so he could'nt hope to free himself.  The cage he was put in had the black dust in the bars and he also found that the dust revealed his spiritual essence to mortals.  They could see him; and though that was a wish he had been waited to be granted by the Man in the Moon for 60 years, he did'nt want to be seen like how the boy had made it possible.  Now, because of his curiousity, he was covered in cuts and bruises and shown to at least a hundred people, all in the same way:  The black dust.

During the monthes he had been captured, he was hoping the Guardians would come to his rescue.  If the evidence of no snow in certain places wasn't enough, surely the evidence of talk about his appearance by human eyes would be enough.  He should've been rescued by now.  What was taking them so long?

There was a bang againgst the cage and the tormenter had lifted the sheet to check on his prized spirit. 

"Hello there, chill spirit," he called him with a name that annoyed him, "Have a nice nap?"

The winter spirit only looked at his tormentor with eyes filled with hatred as the boy smiled upon his beaten trophy.

"I'll take that as a no.  Good, because we're almost at our destination.  You're going to love it!  It's nice and cold and green...oops, I forgot, you prefer white because that means snow, but there is'nt any because I have you in this cage and your staff in my possession."  He laughed as he flashed the spirit's staff in front of his face and the spirit tried to reach for it, but the chains would'nt allow him any closer than five inches from the door.
Dagur dropped the sheet and stood before the cage with a look of glee, "Struggle all you want, chill spirit, because as long as I can breathe, I'm not letting this staff out of my sight."  Dagur turned from the cage, twirling the spirit's staff as he directed his armada to move at the sight of the two ships that carried the two families HE had invited to Berk in Stoick's name.  He knew once he'd show his face, Stoick would be most likely to question his authority.  Chiefs were never supposed to invite other people to another chief's island in that chief's name without the chief's permission, but with the chill spirit and his magical staff at his dispossal, that would not matter because it was he, Dagur the Deranged, that had the advantage over all the family leaders.  Once he showed them what he "trained" the spirit to do with a yak he had brought from the Berserker lands, they'll be wanting to surrender.  And after that, he thought, The Berserkers will claim their rightful place in the world of Vikings.