A/N hi...

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I have nothing to say for myself.

Atticus was expecting Hiccup to be in the training ring the night after the celebrations and his appointment as a legionnaire. After Hiccup had joined the army he'd been an avid student, more so than any other. Atticus had trained him himself in sword fighting and archery and often saw Hiccup sneak out to the training grounds for practice during the night. This night was no exception, although now Atticus didn't really train hiccup, more so train with hiccup as his ex-Viking friend had managed to pretty much catch up to him skill wise. Although, neither of them were better archers than Verlin, the drunk he-devil, or swordsmen than Aeliana.

The difference though, was that tonight Hiccup was not training with the usual roman gladius every soldier was given but a strange dark sword that glittered like stars hid in it.

He ran through the warm up movements with ease, hitting every pose accurately. The blade shimmered, the handle bright white and the hilt bronze.

"fancy blade, did you get it from that merchant fellow?"

"no," he shifted his feet and brought the pommel closer to his torso, "express mail from Pluto."

"oh fun," he unsheathed his own gladius, "why is it all sparkly?"

"it's stygian iron." He twisted slightly, bringing the blade higher.

Atticus whistled, moving near hiccup and joining him on the warm up exercise, "monster killer, huh? Specialised only for the underworld powered. Is there a reason?"

"apparently whatever secrets were being kept about my position as champion have been spilled and Pluto reckons I may be faced with a few challenges in the form of monsters."

"lovely," Atticus rolled his shoulders back, "you better start using those powers of yours then."

Hiccup made a face, "you know I don't like to."

"I haven't the faintest idea why."

"because it's... I don't know. summoning bones and animated skeletons, feeling the presence of death, even working with the shadows... it's weird. It feels weird."

"but it's got a great advantage in battle. It'd even the playing field against monsters who have magical abilities."

Hiccup rolled his eyes, changing position, "I'll think about it."

"I don't know why you don't like it. it looks so cool."

Hiccup sighed, straightening up, "whatever, let's see if this sword works just as well as a normal gladius."

The stygian iron gladius did work just as well as a normal blade, better even if Hiccup was honest.

It was strange, the two ways he thought of weapons. He had always had an appreciation for how swords and maces and other weapons were made and crafted thanks to his strong roots in smithing and inventing. He knew how to spot a well-crafted piece by the balance of the blade, the shape of the metal, the size of the hilt. He could spot a botched job by rapping his knuckle on the metal and listening to the ring it made. He knew how things worked theoretically and therefore why they were preferable.

But now he didn't just make and invent weapons, he used them. He knew what technique went behind the swing of the sword, the thrust, the parry. He did understand that the Roman training he had was much more in depth than what Vikings usually had. They kind of stuck with 'swing it in their face till they run off or you run them through, size and strength is the most important thing, off you go!' whereas the Romans had hours of gruelling exercise and training with strategy. Size and strength could be important, but if you were small you weren't entirely disadvantaged, you had strengths to play to.

It was because of that that the Romans were capable of what the Vikings never were- training Hiccup to be a capable and experienced swordsman and soldier. And now when he held a sword he didn't just think of how it balanced in his hand, how the metal was forged, he also thought of how versatile it would be in battle, how many weapons he could successfully fend off with the one blade. He swung it and ran through some small training exercises and imagined how it would hold up.

It was strange.

It had been three years since he left Berk, three years of being completely and utterly himself and making his own decisions and fighting for what he wanted. One could think that his place as a soldier would limit him, but never had he thrived more. He'd proved himself to the people that mattered, and he'd learned that those that mattered had never needed proof of his skills. He'd grown into himself and learned new things and continued to look for more information.

Rome was the best thing that could have happened to him.

And yet he still could see the remnants of Berk in how he acted.

When he questioned whether he should speak his mind, held himself back, he could feel his younger self warning him. The eternal feeling that he would be cast aside lurked at the back of his mind. His experiences as a Viking would always cling to his skin with the fear of not being accepted, listened to or taken seriously.

and he hated the fact that all of that was what was keeping him from paying attention to his friend.

"earth to Hiccup!" Atticus clicked his fingers in front of Hiccup's eyes, "you alright?"

"I'm fine," Hiccup concentrated back on the game of chess in front of him, knowing it must have been his turn, and moved to protect his king and queen better.

Atticus took his knight in retaliation, not realising he cared very little about it. He was using a basic strategy he'd figured out a while ago that was pretty bare bones but was enough. Considering his spacing out he'd expect it would completely fail, but lucky for him Atticus wasn't good at Chess.

He was a man of strategy, but he needed real motive. If there wasn't something on the line he made stupid mistakes and didn't think things through.

"I'm serious," he shifted a pawn, "you've been spacing out recently. and don't pretend the nearing of your 'leaving Berk' anniversary is coincidentally happening at the same time."

"I am not spacing out," Hiccup moved his rook, "I'm thinking."

"that is very close to the definition of spacing out."

"shut up."

Atticus moved his knight, "is it about the powers thing? If so I'm sorry-"

"no, nothing's wrong and if there was something wrong you wouldn't be the cause of it." Hiccup shifted his queen.

"stress?"

"no."

"did you get injured in a flight or something?"

"no!"

"then what's wrong?"

"nothing! I swear."

"and I swear that if you keep lying I'll grab you by the ankle and drag you through the Tiber till you come out like Achilles in the Greek myths." Atticus shifted his knight.

"do you know how that story goes?" Hiccup took his Knight.

"not as well as I should."

Hiccup snorted, "he was at the fall of Troy."

"I wasn't alive for the fall of Troy." Atticus shifted a pawn.

Hiccup smiled and chuckled and moved a pawn.

"there it is."

Hiccup snapped his head up, the smile taking a confused tilt, "what?"

"you're smile," Atticus moved his king, "I haven't seen it in a couple days."

Hiccup moved his knight, "oh, I hadn't realised."

"after we left the dragon nest where you re-met your mum you kind of sobered. And then you were appointed Legionnaire and... I don't know, you look like Atlas." He moved a pawn.

"... I guess I've had some stuff on my mind." He moved his queen.

"and does that have anything to do with you having left Berk almost exactly three years ago?" he moved his bishop.

Hiccup sighed, "yeah, maybe. That and everything else." He moved a pawn.

"why don't we go on a flight? All of us. Charlotte, Aeliana, Jael, Verlin, You and me. Just a flight, we can camp out at a few islands. Just relax. The fourth and fifth aren't currently in much use. And I know for a fact that Charlotte needs to be forcibly removed from her working desk."

"you sure?"

"yeah," he moved his rook, "we can even hide it as a 'discovery' mission or whatever. 'yes Emperor, we're going out to find some more islands and look in at some of our outer fortifications, see you in a few weeks!'"

Hiccup chuckled, "yeah, it might be fun." He moved his knight, "check mate."

"excuse me?"

"you heard."

Drago sipped his mead and eyed his map.

His eyes lifted to the man on the other side of the table, who had appeared out of thin air in the seat across from him with only a strange jagged light where he now sat and a tangy smell. He was dressed strangely and held himself like a man of power.

"so why have you come here, stranger?"

"I was made aware you intend to rid the world of dragons."

"and you are against this?" Drago asked, placing his cup over the drawn image of Rome, they were in another empire's waters now, just north of the dragon-loving civilisation.

"no," he shifted, moving his arms onto the able and leaning forward, "I would like to help you."

"and what can you offer me?"

"you have no idea."

Hiccup huffed and tossed another balled up piece of paper over his shoulder, slumping onto his desk in defeat.

He was trying to design armour for his friends and re-design his own armour. It was proving difficult, however, to make something both battle sturdy and good for flying with the materials the Roman Blacksmiths could provide him with.

When that had caused troubles he decided to give something else a go and come back later to the armour conundrum, deciding on focusing on his inferno idea that applied similar techniques of flares to a small blade. Except he wasn't getting anywhere with that design either.

He'd hit a mental block with his inventions and it was stressing him out majorly. Usually inventing was what relieved him of stress! What the heck was going on?

"you're overloading."

Hiccup jumped in his seat, turned and reached for his gladius...

Which was not next to his desk, it was on the other side of the room because he was trying to get used to having the stygian sword-ring thing. Gods dammit.

"relax, it's me." Pluto stood at the foot of Hiccup's bed. He was wearing his usual black toga made of the strange shifting material that Hiccup thought looked like shadow spun into opaque cloth.

Hiccup relaxed, turning his chair around and sitting back down with a light chuckle "I didn't sense you."

"that was apparent, yes." His usual glum look was broken by a hint of a smile that disappeared almost as quickly as it appeared, "it's because you aren't using your abilities and therefore not exerting the extra energy they give you. It's heightening your stress and making you less aware of your surroundings."

"I haven't had that issue before," Hiccup rose a brow.

"that's because you weren't as skilled at the time. Now that you're more capable and have adapted to your powers they will require to be expended every now and then. If you don't you'll lose concentration because of your powers attempting to act out without your will. and it'll get worse as it progresses"

"why didn't you tell me this before?"

"I didn't expect you to pretend you didn't have those abilities. I gave them to you so you could use them to your advantage."

Hiccup rolled his eyes, "I'm sorry, they're just... strange."

"I understand, but... one of the reasons I made you my champion is because I sensed you'd need those powers. I'm not a prophet, but any god can have strange visions or moments of clairvoyance," Pluto seemed to be trying to force an extra serious face so Hiccup would take him seriously, "I'm sure you've been debriefed about current occurrences further North. Something is going to happen Hiccup. And you're going to need your powers to deal with it."

"why do I need to deal with it?" Hiccup asked, leaning back against the chair, "it's great, I'm honoured, but... aren't there demi-gods? People who actually know what they're doing? Why is the ex-Viking outcast chosen to do this?"

"I don't know." Pluto said, trying to keep his voice calm, "I'm just acting on my visions. Inaction could lead to Rome's downfall."

"why not Aeliana then? Or Atticus? Or Charlotte? They're all actual Romans who've trained far longer than me- surely they'd be better suited for this?" Hiccup threw his hands in the air.

"because they were not the first dragon rider."

"what does being first have to do with anything?"

"you're not an ex-Viking. You're not an outcast. you're Hiccup, the one who tamed a night fury," Toothless perked his head up from his 'bed' at that, then fell back asleep, "I don't know. but when you crossed into Roman waters I sensed something different about you. You will have a major role in what is to come, whether you're prepared for it or not."

Hiccup sighed and dropped his head into his hands, "I'm a Legionnaire, for some unknown reason, the most major role I'll play is fighting on the front lines."

"have faith."

"I'm trying!"

"just do your best," Hiccup looked up as he felt Pluto set his hand on his shoulder, "that's always enough."

Hiccup looked up at the Roman god, "and if it isn't?"

Pluto pursed his lips, "then you keep trying."