Chapter 1: Return to Berk
This is Berk. Sure, it's a little banged up, but if you knew what we've been through to protect this little island, you would be surprised it's not in worse condition. But, thanks to the hard work of the Berkian residents, a lot of the repair work has been done, and we can finally go home. Yes, we had to evacuate Berk last year before Devastating Winter with all its snowstorms got here, or we would freeze to death. See, 8 months ago this evil guy named Drago Bludfist came here with his ice-breathing Bewilderbeast pal and completely blew this place to bits with ice that's stronger than concrete. It's no match for our dragons though. You heard me right, dragons. We are friends with dragons, we live with dragons, and we ride dragons. Which reminds me. I need to go and set up the Dragon Race course.
A large group of Vikings was working in a large open area, the training arena, which was completely covered in ice. The chain-linked roof, buckling in some places due to the weight it was bearing, had a second roof, ice. Ice was arched perfectly, beautifully over it, and the sunlight found its way through it, turning the arena air slightly aquamarine, the color of the ice. Water dripped from the criss-cross wires, evidence of the melting ice. People were gathered in groups, working on projects together, headed and directed by their chief, who had just been declared such a few months earlier.
"Hiccup! Can I get some help over here, or not?"
"Coming Astrid, be right there!"
Hiccup carefully set down the chisel and hammer he was using to break the ice away from the cage doors in the arena. He almost had it all done, but he kept getting interrupted. First he had to decide what to work on, who could do it, and where and when. Heaving a sigh, he walked over to go help his girlfriend, Astrid, who was holding an extremely large piece of ice that she had just cut from blocking the doorway of the arena. There was only one way to get in or out right now: squeezing past the ice that had flown down the path leading in, freezing as it went. And only slender Vikings could get through, not practical at all. Astrid was bent over by the weight of the huge ice block, barely holding onto the wet surface. He bent, hands locking over the other end, and gave her a smile over the top of the ice. She smiled back, and then nodded over to the dripping pile of discarded ice chunks where they would put it. A few drops landed on her hair and face, and again he was intrigued by how beautiful she was. Then, he looked up to find the source of the drips, and found it. Dragons were flying by the roof of the arena, melting ice and snow away from it so there was no longer a threat of collapse. Valka, Hiccup's mother, was instructing the dragons to carefully melt the ice off the floor-frozen puddles so no one would slip and crack their head open. Goodness knows they didn't need any more drama, or injuries for that matter. During their stay on the island belonging to their allies and friends, the Bog Burglars, they had delivered 3 babies, set dozens of broken bones, cured dozens of people with various illnesses, and Thor knows what else. Vikings weren't exactly the most careful of people...
After Hiccup finished helping Astrid move the ice block to the pile waiting to be melted, he turned around to look over what was being done. As the new chief of Berk, he had to be sure that things were getting done the way they needed to be done and in a timely fashion. His people counted on it, his job demanded it. And with all the added stress from cleaning up after the drama with Drago, there was a lot to be done. Quite a lot for the 21-year-old to handle.
Hiccup spotted Snotlout, his cousin ONLY by marriage, (thank Thor) sitting idle and admiring himself in "his shiny", something he had gotten from Breakneck Bog when they went there looking for Trader Joanne, goodness, how many years ago was that, 5 now? It was a surprise that he still had it after all those years. Snapping out of his thoughts, Hiccup walked over to Snotlout. "What are you doing?"
Snotlout barely gave him a glance before staring down at his shiny one again. "I dunno, just thinking I guess. Hiccup, do you think I'll ever get a lasting girlfriend?"
"What? What about Ruffnut?"
"She dumped me yesterday. Apparently, she decided she wanted to be with Fishlegs." He nearly sneered the name.
"Well, that's kinda her decision. Either way, I'm sure you'll find someone to settle down with in good time."
"Easy for you to say. You have Astrid. You always have. And she clearly wants to be with you, not me, and there isn't really anyone else in our age group."
"First of all, Astrid and I have had our fair share of problems. Remember what happened with Heather?"
"Oh yeah, Heather." All of the sudden, Snotlout got really distant, and his eyes started glazing over.
"Speaking of which, why don't you try writing to Heather? Maybe she'll come to Berk for another visit, this time on better terms."
"Maybe I'll try that. See ya!" With that, he jumped up and ran off in the direction of his house, completely forgetting that they were trying to clean up the arena.
"Oh well, I guess our day just got a little longer, huh bud?" he asked the Nightfury sitting behind him. "Nothing we can't handle though, right?" The dragon cooed in response.
Just then Valka called to him. "Hiccup, all the ice is off the floor and the ceiling and the doors are all unblocked. I don't think there's much left to do here, so I'm going to take the dragons and start melting off the houses and the village square. Sound okay?"
"Yeah Hiccup, now you get to give the orders," said Astrid, coming up behind him and kissing him on the cheek. "So you get to decide if something is a good idea or not."
"Oh yeah, thanks, no pressure, right?" Hiccup asked, rolling his eyes.
"No, there is no pressure at all. You were a natural-born leader, and you can't deny that. You are level-headed in all situations, and you are a good thinker, which means you can make the best decisions. Unlike me, I'm a fighter. You know that. I just jump into any situation with my battle ax ready. That's how you balance me and I balance you." Astrid explained.
"You're supposed to say that, you're my girlfriend."
"Maybe, but it's true."
"Uh, Hiccup, about the village square?" Valka interrupted. "I really think we're wasting time standing here."
"Oh yeah, sorry. That sounds like a good idea except before you do the houses could you do the Great Hall? We can serve food and have shelter there once we get the repair work done."
"See? Best decisions."
"Astrid. I get it, okay?" He met his girlfriend's eyes, and smiled a little.
"Just pointing out the obvious," she laughed.
Valka gathered up the dragons from around the arena and went off to melt the ice off the Great Hall, leaving Hiccup and Astrid alone...or so they thought. Tuffnut was sneaking up behind them unnoticed.
"Look, I'm gonna go and unblock all the drains in here so all this water can go somewhere instead of sitting and freezing people's feet. I'll talk to you later." With that, Astrid reached up, pecked Hiccup a kiss, and ran off toward one of the many drains in the arena.
"Oh, gross, don't you think you guys could do that somewhere else? Or maybe get a room?" Hiccup turned beet red, and Tuffnut snickered at his reaction. "I mean, really, my sister's like, 'Hiccstrid forever!' and all that, so it makes my life unpleasant."
"Hiccstrid? Who's idea was that?"
"I don't know. I know it couldn't be my sister's because she's dumb so she couldn't possibly come up with it." Tuffnut continued to list reasons why Ruffnut couldn't come up with the expression Hiccstrid, failing to realize his sister now standing just off his right shoulder. Suddenly, he was socked so hard he stumbled forward. "Oh, hi Ruff, didn't see you there," he chuckled nervously. When his sister was mad, it was best to run the other way...or deal with a dislocated limb.
"First of all, for your information, Tuffnut," she sneered, "that was Fishleg's idea. Second, I am NOT dumb!"
"Well, you do some pretty dumb stuff," he answered.
"Like what? Oh wait, you mean how I painted your toenails purple last night while you were sleeping?"
"Yeah, that's what I'm-what? You did WHAT?!" He quickly slid off his boot and, much to his shock, found 5 nicely painted nails. Hiccup snorted in an attempt to hide his laughter. Tuff quickly slid off his other boot to find the same result. Now Hiccup wasn't even trying to hide his laughter as he doubled over with both hands on his stomach.
"Well, Tuffnut, I guess you couldn't wait until the Thawfest dragon race to sport colors, huh? Except next time, stick to the facepaint, ok?" Hiccup teased.
"Hey guys, what's so funny?" Fishlegs walked up behind them, Meatlug following close behind. "Oh, Tuff! What happened to your feet?"
"Nothing, it's nothing, really. Just my stupid idiotic sister causing trouble, as usual." This was closely followed by a punch, which Tuff returned, and in a matter of seconds, the twins were falling over each other in their mission to punch the other faster than said other could punch them. Hiccup rolled his eyes.
"Just another ordinary day on Berk" he commented sarcastically. "Happy return-to-Berk week to me. So much for a Dragon Race..."
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