Hi everyone ;) I just got back from my school's Retreat and I had a whole lot of fun bonding with my classmates We all learned how to work better together and to appreciate whatever days we had left in high school before heading off to college.

It also gave me time to be thankful for everything in my life. For my life as a fanfiction writer, I am so thankful for all of the followers and fans I have on this site. Some of my most notable supporters are:

WolfWitchHuntress1318

dragonridr55

forestshasow

ShadowLord563

Hiccupisnotuseless

And many, many more! Thank you all so much and God Bless You!

Unfortunately, due to my fatigue from the retreat and school still going loco with things to do, my update for Riders and Defenders of Berk and HTTYD 2 won't be until next week. I'm so sorry

In the meantime, I hope this little ficlet will suffice for the time being. I got inspired to do this while on Retreat from reading my copy of Chicken Soup for the Soul Teens Talk: Tough Times. Hope y'all like it ;)

Dear Diary,

It's been two months since the battle against Drago and his Dark Bewilderbeast. We had won, my best friend and brother, Hiccup, has become Chief, Toothless and Stryka have become the King and Queen of All Dragons, and my little baby brother, Elias II Stoick Fiersome, is just the most precious little bundle of joy!

Yep, my life is just awesome! Nothing but sunny skies and fun flights.

But, of course before today, there had been a lot of bumps along the road. Three significant bumps stood out.

First bump: was repairing Berk after the battle. Thankfully, under Hiccup's brilliant leadership, Berk was completely fixed up and Stoick's statue was finished in just one month! It goes to show you that Hiccup is just a great leader and having dragons can really help with repairs.

The second bump in the road was helping Hiccup through the grieving process of losing his Dad. It wasn't always easy. He was already so busy with his work as Chief, that he hardly had any time to sit down with me, Astrid, his Mom or anyone for that matter to try and process his emotions. Due to that, there were times he'd completely crack under the stress. That usually involved in him crying a lot and, in more distressing cases, getting into fits of anger that made him storm off. We were all worried, especially Toothless. He pretty much blamed himself for everything that had happened. It was a good thing we were all there to help them both. Stryka and I would go on flights with Hiccup and Toothless whenever they were free. And at the Cove, Hiccup would sometimes open up to me over how crazy his life had suddenly become. We'd talk, we'd cry, we'd forgive and we'd forget. Everything was okay now. Drago was gone and Berk was repaired, everything was already fine. It took a lot of time and patience, but everything worked out in the end.

Hiccup's doing great as Chief and he and Toothless have become closer to each other, almost like brothers, and their bond has strengthened exponentially.

The last significant bump…was probably the most unexpected bump I had ever encountered…as well as the most painful one.

And that was helping my boyfriend, Eret Son of Eret, put himself back together again.

I know that he had been through a lot at the hands of Drago. But I never knew that he had so many scars, both physical and emotional, accumulated over the past 11 years…and it broke my heart because I didn't even think of helping him from the very start.

At first it was subtle and hardly noticeable.

Eret would regularly decline invitations from me or either Hiccup and Astrid to join some of the Dragon Races, saying that he and Skullcrusher still needed more practice or that he was too busy helping Gobber out in the forge as his new apprentice.

At first, I thought it was nothing. But then I heard some people, mostly ill-mannered villagers that even Hiccup didn't really like too much, talking about Eret behind his back. Their words were mostly about their suspicions of him, what with his past work for Drago as a Dragon Trapper and all, and how they all thought that he was bad news. I hoped that Eret didn't know about this mean gossip about him spreading about. But he did. Word goes around fast on our little island, you see. And the gossip and sometimes accusatory looks from the people had a really negative effect on Eret's self-esteem.

Breakfast, lunch, dinner or even just a meeting at the Great Hall, Eret would enter as quietly as possible while hiding behind Skullcrusher so he wouldn't be noticed too much. We'd invite him to join us, but he would usually avoid eye contact and preferred to be alone or with Skullcrusher. Oh sure, we'd have dates together every now and then but that was how things usually happened. Eret would keep away from everyone, including us…and me.

I was already pretty concerned when I turned to my parents for advice. They both gave me the same piece of advice: Tell Eret to ignore all the mean gossip and stay by his side through this hard time. I did just that. When Eret and I were on a date, I told him sincerely that no matter what other people say, he should just ignore them and know that there are others who still love him. After that, he seemed genuinely happy and looked okay.

Oh, if I had just looked into Eret's situation a little more…I could have seen that behind those amber brown eyes, that showed off his cocky and proud personality, he was still silently screaming for help.

The real problem began shortly after Eret and I had that little talk at our date. Gobber came to me in the Clinic with disturbing news. Often times he had seen Eret purposely putting his hand near the sharp edge of any sword he was forging so he could get a cut. And then, Gobber told me that day that he had caught Eret secretly making cuts on his forearms with a small dagger in the forge's back room and covering them up with leather gauntlets.

Naturally, I freaked out and went straight to Eret to confront him about this cutting madness. But he refused to listen to me and continued this horrific deed, no matter how many times I told him to please stop it.

The cutting was just one of the things I had begun to see in Eret.

He started coming to breakfast in the Great Hall late, looking exhausted and with red eyes as if he had been crying all night. He refused to go near anyone, refused to speak and just stayed quiet. And whenever Drago was mentioned, I saw him get tense and look like he wanted to just get up and run away before he heard Drago's name again. Hiccup, Astrid and I along with all the others tried to get through him, but he'd make up some excuse and just leave. Now, I was really terrified.

My sweet Eret was disappearing…even when he was still there…

I can't tell you how many times I've been almost driven to tears whenever I begged him to open up to me, tell me what was wrong. I wanted to help him so badly but, like when he was still working for Drago, Eret would just stay silent.

Finally I figured that maybe Eret would be a bit more open to one of the boys and sought out the help of the one guy who I knew would always be willing to assist me in any crisis.

Hiccup.

After explaining the situation to him, my good Chief immediately went to go find Eret and talk to him. He came back later looking like he had aged years in just a span of a few short hours.

Hiccup had tears in his eyes as he recounted the tales Eret had told him. I already knew that long before this day, Drago had murdered Eret's father when he had refused to work as a trapper for him and that Eret was forced to take up the job.

What I didn't know were of the countless nights Eret had stayed awake, crying all alone and haunted by his father's death. And that even until now, his past haunted him almost every hour of his life.

Eret blamed himself for his father's death and felt insurmountable guilt for becoming a Dragon Trapper. To him, he was absolutely sure that he would end up in Helheim when he died and even if he ended up in Valhalla, his father would not be there to welcome him.

That wasn't the worst of it.

Hiccup began to cry as stories of horrific torture and abuse escaped from his lips. And I didn't even shed a single tear. I guess I was either in too much shock or trying to imagine the horrifying ordeals Eret had suffered to do so.

Then Hiccup told me that he had found Eret standing at the very edge of the very same cliff where I had almost walked off eight years ago when Elias had died. My heart dropped into my stomach when I realized that Eret had been ready to commit suicide when my surrogate brother had sought him out to talk.

"And Zenna…when I told Eret that the cliff he was on was where you tried to kill yourself…he completely lost it. Zen, you're Eret's whole world now. I lost Dad but I still have Mom. Eret he…he's lost his entire family. He told me that you're all he has left but he didn't want you to get dragged into the mess he was in because he loves you. I've done everything that I could, Zen, but it's all up to you. You're the only one who can save Eret from himself now." Hiccup told me.

I lost it at that point and broke down crying. Hiccup, Odin bless him, hugged me until I calmed down. I vowed that I would do everything it took to bring Eret back. But it was days before I could bring myself to approach him. Eret still looked so severely depressed, but he seemed a little better compared to before.

We went over to his house in order to talk. Almost immediately, Eret confessed EVERYTHING to me. While talking to Hiccup made him feel a little better, he still didn't feel good because he hadn't opened up to me. He felt so ashamed but now, he was letting everything out.

Eret began to cry as he told me of the days after his father's murder, of the times Drago would beat him until he could hardly stand and threaten him that he would meet his father's fate if he didn't do good work in dragon trapping, how the older soldiers would take great pleasure in terrorizing him and physically abusing him by making him their human target for weapons practice, the nights he would lie in bed, reliving the very last moments of his father's life while crying silently and being swallowed by his own guilt of becoming something he himself did not want to become in the first place.

Eret then revealed to me that he still had nightmares about his father's death and was still scared that, one day, Drago would come back and take him away in order to restart the vicious cycle once again. Everything just came out of him as tears trickled down his face.

I cried with him…and cried even harder when Eret told me that it wasn't the first time he had tried to take his own life.

When Hiccup found him on that cliff, it was Eret's second try at suicide. His first attempt was shortly after Drago had given him the brand on his chest, a mark of eternal shame for him…

"I was ready to jump overboard when…the miracle happened…The ship was going through a dark tunnel and I was about to jump off and drown when a small bit of sunlight shone through a crack in the tunnel…The light glinted on my pin and…I remembered you. And that you were still out there…waiting for me…" Eret whispered after he had run out of tears to cry.

I hadn't run out of tears and I began to cry like I had never cried before while embracing Eret as tightly as I could. Now I was the one feeling the guilt. I was so stupid! How could I have been so blind to my own beloved's troubles?! Why hadn't I helped him get through this from the very start?!

Eret told me that he blamed no one but himself. Finally I managed to regain my composure. We were silent for a little while…before we well…started making out. With every kiss I gave Eret, I hoped that it would help him. We were like that, on the bed, just kissing and holding onto each other, for a while until I made him look at me right in my one eye.

"What you did and who you were before, Eret…doesn't change the fact that I love you with all my heart. And I'm sure your father doesn't hate you or blame you for anything. And…I'm sure your mother thinks the same as well. I'm sure that they both still love you so much. I don't know what it's like to lose your family in an instant…and I hope I never have to…But I've dealt with losing Eli. Those days after his death were the darkest days in my life. But that was just for a month, Eret. And I am so, so sorry that I never realized that you'd been through so much grief for years. I'd give anything and everything to bring your parents back but I can't. What's done is done. The only thing we can do…is keep moving forward. And Eret…I promise you…that you won't be alone anymore. Me, Hiccup, Astrid, Valka, Mom, Dad, El…we're all here for you. And I will always, ALWAYS, love you, Eret. I loved you before, I love you now, I'll love you tomorrow…I LOVE YOU FOREVER." I whispered to him.

Eret didn't say anything and just hugged me. But I could feel that he was starting to get better. And he was silently saying, "Thank you…"

With everyone's support, Eret began to recover. Trauma is a tricky thing. It takes time to get rid of it completely. But everyone in the team was really supportive. Hiccup and Eret were pretty good friends now. Hiccup had taught Eret about forging weapons and saddle making while Eret gave him sword fighting lessons. Astrid trained with them every day while Fishlegs taught him all about dragons. The Twins, they had fun taking Eret out for stunt flights that he sometimes didn't always enjoy. As for Snotlout, would you believe me that he was extremely supportive when some no-good dog of a man tried to lay his hands on me one night after too many drinks and Eret all but went psycho on him?

Let's just say that unlucky dude ended up with a black eye and bloody nose because of Eret, a pretty bad concussion when Snotlout clocked him on the head with his hammer…and had his hair singed off courtesy of Hiccup and his Dragon Blade, Inferno.

If there was one thing Snotlout admired in Eret, it was his dedication and protectiveness of me.

As for me, along with my parents and El, I was always there for my boyfriend. I kept him company, cried with him when he sometimes couldn't keep all the pain inside and just loved him like I told him…

Now the nightmares Eret used to have are now a thing of the past. And his fear of Drago became nothing but an old memory.

When Eret and Skullcrusher won their first Dragon Race and everyone cheered as they did a victory lap, I saw Eret's eyes filled with nothing but joy. And I was filled to the brim with it. My Eret, Son of Eret had finally come back to us…and to me…

"Zenna! Zenna, love! Aren't you coming down, sweetheart?" "Zen, Eret's here! You're going on a night flight with him, aren't ya?!" the voices of Henna and Edgar Fiersome echoed from downstairs at the Fiersome household. Zenna looked up from her diary and smiled.

Well, gotta go! Eret and I are going on a romantic flight! Bye!

Zenna Fiersome

Heading downstairs, Zenna found Eret playing with her baby brother. Little El giggled as he grabbed his sister's boyfriend's fingers in his little pudgy hands. Gently kissing the top of her brother's head, Zenna smiled at the former dragon trapper who smiled back at her before they headed out.

And Zenna's diary remained in her room, its pages patiently waiting for her next entry.

Read and review, those 2 things make me happy ;)

And I promise that I'll update my other stories soon. Until next time guys!

-GuardianDragon98