Dust in the Skies: Hatchlings
Summary: Berk is back on their track to peace and some of the dragon riders now have a new quest, being parents. How hard can it be raising the next generation of Hooligans?
Chapter One: Another Morning
Banging on the roof began to wake the sleeping man inside. He groaned and turned to his side pulling the fur over his head. A smile crossed his sleepy face when his out stretched hand touched the warm skin of another. Going back to cuddle with his sleep mate the noise above him continued to grow. The young teen cried in agony and he did his best to roll out of bed and not disturb his partner. His eyes glared at the ceiling as he made his way out of the room.
When the bedroom door closed, he went towards one of the chairs that held his vest. The teen did his best to put on the clothing minding his right side. The scar was setting in and he was thankful, but it would be a few more days before he did any back flips. Fully dressed he headed out the front door before the sound continued. The male did not move fast enough and he had to bite the inside of his cheek not to curse.
"Toothless! Would you please stop that! I'm outside already!"
An over ecstatic black scaled dragon came bounding down from the rooftop, bringing a couple shingles. The male groaned and put his head in his hands, but soon as the reptile was in front of him with his tail happily wagging, the teen was grinning.
"Good morning to you too, Bud." He scratched underneath the dragon's chin earning a belch of his morning breath. Reeling back the teen coughed and tried to get away from the smell. "Oh by Gods! Toothless! Why haven't we changed your diet yet?"
The black dragon cooed and nuzzled his rider, who was being playful right back. Soon both boys settled down and back off from their rough housing when the reptile caught sight of someone coming towards them. Two Vikings were heading towards the home carrying a few of their tools in hand. Both had smiles when greeting the recovering Viking.
"Good morning Hiccup."
"Morning," he said in a chipper tone.
"Ready to start on those construction ideas to your home?"
He fidgeted at that and he tried not to make eye con tact with the two gents, but it was proven difficult. "Well you see Eira was up all night heaving so she's still asleep."
"Ah morning sickness finally catching up with her huh lad?"
"Yeah," Hiccup agreed. His hand was on Toothless' neck trying to keep him calm, "besides I think I'm going to take this guy here on a flight around the island."
Both men gave each other a glance before questioning the boy, "Are you sure it's a good idea to leave Eira by herself?"
"And what if she wakes up while you're gone? Don't think she'll take too kindly to the news of you flying just yet."
"It will be fine, "he reassured them, "besides I'll be back before she even wakes up. What she doesn't know won't hurt her."
They looked at the teen as if he had a death wish, but allowed him to learn his lesson the hard way and bid him good-bye.
Hiccup turned to Toothless and without command turned so the human could hop on his saddle. Carefully the auburn hair male settled on the back of the lizard and hooked his prosthetic in the mechanism that controlled the tail. Holding onto the handles of the saddle, he leaned down to ask his friend, "Ready bud?"
With out hesitation the dragon launched them into the air to begin their flight.
In the said home, the person slowly started to stir. She tried her best to lie in bed with her eyes closed trying to fall back asleep. When that was being a pointless way of doing, so she tossed over to her side hoping the new change would help. It did not. In fact, it made it worse especially for her bladder. The small mound of her stomach only made her need to use the restroom more. The brunet rubbed her abdomen trying to ease the pressure off with no prevailed. Grunting she pushed herself off the bed, too tired to notice that her bedmate was missing.
"First, you keep me up all night heaving out nothing and now you can't even let me catch up on the few hours of sleep just because you want to use my bladder as a pillow," she complained.
After using the outhouse, she enjoyed the peaceful walk back to the house. Her hands rested on her four-month belly as she watched the island that was her home begin to wake. The intake of the sea air made her smile, but also it made her miss the long flights that her dragon and she use to travel. Now that was impossible to do since both were excepting. The trip she took behind her house was a wonderful sight. Another black scaled dragon lay curled up behind the structure and the human knew for a fact that underneath the dragons' soft underbelly was her precious egg.
The female smiled at her, but dared not approached for the female reptile was on edge without a den. It was also concerned all of them that the egg had not hatched yet. Most of the other eggs hatched within the week they were laid, bit it had been months now. Hiccup suggested it might be a dud and they should take it away before things became worse. Eira and with the help of Fishlegs convinced them otherwise because of the little information they actually had on Night Furies. Her blue eyes gleamed and went towards the front.
When opening the bedroom and checking in on her husband she was shocked. He was missing. At first, she kept herself calm telling herself that he was just out in the town somewhere. They boy were coped up inside their house for some time now and having some fresh air was good. She straighten a few things up before heading out once more. When she did, she went to Gobber's in search of her missing spouse. She figured that he would be up their hammering or sketching away at something.
Arriving at the black smith's hut, she saw the one armed and leg Viking whistling while fixing one of the many dragons' teeth. She cautiously walked up to the dragon and patted his head while the man was busy. He was always in the mood for a chat.
"Good morning lass. How are you feeling?"
She gave a small grin," just fine Gobber, if you don't count for the heaving I was doing all night."
"Morning sickness that bad for ya?"
She shrugged, "Not as bad as Ruffnut's thankfully."
He agreed and fed the dragon a fish for their cooperation and moseyed his way inside the hut. Eira followed and helped him continue his on to his schedule by handing him a few tools that were out of reach. Watching him give his small performance, she was impressed especially with how quick his was when changing out the tools in his prosthetic. The woman shook her head almost forgetting why she even came to the shop in the first place, "Say Gobber Hiccup didn't stop by here by chance did he?"
"Nah lass, but he could have dropped off Toothless with Stoick. Thornado being out of the picture the Chief has been looking for another dragon and until then that Night Fury has been doing are sort of odd dragon jobs with the man."
"Thornado's gone?" she pondered aloud.
Realizing the news was new to the girl Gobber explained, "Oh that's right you weren't here. Out taking one of your little breaks from Berk at the time." Eira bowed her head in shame, but he continued, "But yeah the kids found some abandon baby Thunderdrums out at sea and Thornado was the only one who could control them, so he took in the wee things and became a parent and they left Berk."
Her heart soared after hearing the happy tale and she even caught herself rubbing her baby bump. Even the Black smith caught a small glance of her actions, but did not mention it to her. She bid the man goodbye and went to go find her husband. Hopefully, he was at his old home, she did not feel like running all over Berk to find him. On her way to her father-in-law's she ran into the couple of Vikings that were going to help with the reconstruction of her home.
"Greetings Mrs. Haddock and where are you off to in such a hurry?"
The brunet beamed at the titled, "on my way to see the Chief and hopefully catch my husband there."
They let her continue her search and when she was out of sight, they turn to each other, "the boy's dead now."
"Indeed."
Continuing on her path, she ran into Astrid. Neither of the girls said a word to each other. Both of their blue eyes stared at one another. The blonde-haired woman's were hard and glaring at the others was said and apologetic. The blonde woman won their small staring contest making Eira look away and hurried off to her destination.
Arriving there, she took a deep breath from the small confrontation before knocking on the door of the Chief's home. His large frame towered over her making the woman look even smaller than what she appeared. However, under his beard he held a grinning smile. His bear like hand touched her should as his deep voice boomed out his greetings to her.
"Nice to see you too Stoick."
"And how's the little tike in there?" he gestured to her belly. He was thrilled that there was going to be another addition to the family tree. That or he really did love children and babies in general.
She patted her stomach and smiled, "just fine, though it likes to keep me up at night."
He nodded happily, "Means he's got a Viking spirit in him."
"Or she," Eira pointed out and mentally rolled her eyes as Stoick once again brought up the gender debate.
"Oh of course! Speaking of which what are you hoping for?"
The Chief was now all of the sudden very curious at what the new Haddock's gender would be the past weeks. To avoid it she would either brush it off or told him, "Healthy is all I am hoping for at this point."
Again, he bobbed his head content with her answer, for now. Then he remembered what condition she was in and ushered her inside the home to sit. Eira started to laugh at his antics and started to walk inside when they heard a certain holler come from above. Turning their heads to the sky, they were just able to see a familiar figure land right outside the house.
"Whoa! What a rush huh, Bud?" the rider of the dragon hopped off combing his damp hair back while petting his dragon. The Night fury agreed and ecstatically bounced around the boy. Both were wrapped up in each other's joy to notice their audience. Stoick had to give out a small cough to get both boys attention and when the young Haddock realized who stood before them his eyes were as big as an owl's.
"Oh hey there uh Eira," He nervously spat. "I didn't um expect you to be here oh um what I mean to say is what are you doing here so early?"
"Well," she started off calmly however under that calm under tone was clearly her hidden anger for what she caught him doing," I was looking for my wonderful husband who should have been working on our home." She walked up to him and gave a smile towards the man and asked, "Now what exactly are you doing here and flying on Toothless."
Hiccup scratched the back of his neck and looked back and forth at his father and his dragon hoping one of them could be on his defense. Stoick held up his hands and shook his head. He mumbled something about not wanting to be involved and strolled back into his home. Toothless bowed his head and tried not to anger the female anymore than they already had. Hiccup sighed in defeat, but not before calling out to his father, "Thank you Dad!"
Eira waited and crossed her arms while doing so, "Well, do you have an answer made up or are you going to have me stand here all day trying to figure it out?"
He continued to scratch the back of his neck, "No I don't want you to do that. I was going to drop off Toothless." He trailed off a little hoping that she would buy the small lie.
"Toothless," Eira turn her attention to the black winged lizard and sweetly asked, "Can you go back to the house please?" He looked towards his trainer with pleading eyes, but had no other choice when the female reinforced her command. "Now please Toothless. I am sure Dust would like to see you."
Now when Hiccup watched his friend slowly disappear towards their home he felt betrayed, "Some friend you are."
She coughed to grab his attention. Her arms were still crossed and she carefully watched as he fidgets in place.
"Look dear I-"
She put up an index finger up in the air stopping him," Do I need to ask why you were flying on Toothless?"
"No, but Eira you have to understand-"
She repeated her actions once more, "Hiccup should I ask you where you should be right now?"
He shook his head.
"So you'll go home and start on the stables that you said you would do this morning?" She gave him a smile. When seeing it the male sighed in relief knowing she was not as mad as she could be in that moment.
"After I speak with my father I will be right on it," he moved to go inside the house, but she pushed herself in between.
"And I am sure that it can wait till dinner right?"
He pouted, but agreed that it could after some thought.
"Then off to the house you go," She turned him around and began pushing him in the direction.
While the wife was pushing him he chimed in, "Does this mean you're not mad at me and I'm off the hook?"
"Do Gronkles love to sleep?"
He spun around and smiled at her. She smiled back and leaned into the small peck he left on her lips. "You just better take me with you next time!" She called after him as he ran down the hill to be greeted by his best friend. Eira stood there for a couple of minutes looking over the two and lightly touched her lips. The happy reunion of the two reminded the pregnant woman on how she used to be with her dragon and she sighed. "If only Dust could be her normal self again," she thought, "if only I could be." She rubbed her slightly swollen stomach kind of knowing what the female Night Fury was going through.
Stepping inside Stoick's home was still strange to her, yet she always suppressed that feeling allowing the warm welcome the home had to offer. She pulled out one of the chairs he had and sat down next to the Chief. Eira waited for him to speak.
"I hope you didn't punish him too hard this time," he spoke.
She shook her head, "No sir just sent him back to the work he was suppose to do."
The red head shook his head chuckling, "you really are soft on him."
A chuckle escaped her too, "Sometimes that's the best way to get him to do anything."
"And what about with this one? Are you going to be soft of them too?"
"Who knows," she answered with her hand placed on her belly," if they are anything like the men in this family Odin help us all."
Stoick's laughter could be heard around the whole house.
Sweat gathered at his brows as he hammered on one of the post to the new stable. He looked at the plans he made and smiled. Everything seemed to be going according to plan.
"See that Toothless? All we need to do is put on the shingles and check on the stables openings inside and out and you got yourself a new home."
The dragon growled in happiness.
"Don't know what Eira was so worried about."
"Because people who care for others worry about them the most," one of the men told the lad.
Hiccup agreed and continued the work. After the small look around to see what was left the teen decided that, everyone deserved a short break. Most of them went to the Great Hall, while Hiccup went towards the Arena. Apparently, the small school session had just ended and the one legged Viking narrowly escaped the stampede of kids running towards the exit. Luckily, Toothless was there to pull him out of the way and he chuckled. The male standing in the middle of the room was going over his own notes with a sleeping Gronkle by his side when the other rider called out to him.
"Hey Fishlegs!"
The large Viking jumped and the cards he held scattered all over the floor. He swung himself around and was about to scream at the unexpected guest when he realized who it was, "Oh Hiccup it's you. For a second I thought it was Snotlout or the twins."
The dragon trainer gave a disgusted look at being compared to his cousin. He shook the image out and then asked, "Wait so Ruffnut still pulls pranks on you?"
The blonde scratched his cheek and nervously said, "Well yeah she says it makes her happy and it keeps the bond with her brother strong. Besides they aren't as bad as they use to be just the casual sneaking up and all."
Hiccup raised an eyebrow up at that, but it did not seem to bother the man that much, so he paid no more mind to the idea. He instead changed the subject, "so what was today's lesson? And thank you for taking over the classes while I'm busy."
"Oh it was no problem Hiccup and todays class all about the classification of dragons on Berk and their characteristics and which one's would be good for certain riders."
He nodded intrigued with what was taught. However, what Ingerman had to say next scared the next Chief some.
"Although they um somehow ended up deciding what dragon they wanted to ride."
Hoping he was wrong Hiccup asked, "Are you telling me we may have young children out on Berk searching for wild dragons so they could ride them?"
"What no!" Fishlegs said, yet he could not look the young man in the eyes and quietly told him his thoughts, "maybe."
He wanted to scream at the man. Instead, he took a deep breath and as best he could, instructed him to do the following, "Fishlegs I need you to round up those kids and politely tell them the dangers of owning a dragon at their age. The gods know we need another Gustav incident. "
He nodded, but before he left on his Gronkle Meatlug, he told his opinion on a past matter, "Hey Hiccup if it's worth anything I don't know why you were forced to step down as Chief. Yeah, her son died, but if anything you would think Eira should have been-"
Fishlegs never finished his thought for Hiccup cut him off, "Get going Fishlegs before my father comes here and screams at us for another thing we screwed up with."
The heavyset teen nodded and went to do the task he was told. Hiccup sighed when he was left alone with the Night Fury. He turned to his best friend and gave off a small smile as his mind began to race once more.
"I don't know Bud," he started and the dragon gave off his own grumbles of speech, "Is it wrong to say I am glad I'm not the Chief anymore? That my father is better at this than I am. I mean I know I did okay, but I-"
Toothless nudge his human's palm, allowed his fingertips, nails to rub and scratch his muzzle and chin. This was the dragons hope to get the boy to smile and think of happier things and his efforts were not wasted. The lad's crooked grin was on his face making the over sized lizard copy him. Slowly he started to lick his human to the point that the small male stumbled backwards and was cracking up while his face was being attack by the dragon's tongue and spit. When his small pleas were heard Toothless let up and watched as Hiccup stood back up on his feet.
"Okay, okay you made you point jeez how am I going to explain this to Eira?" He looked down at his shirt to see it covered in dragon spit. "She's not going to like you after she sees this Bud."
Toothless rolled his eyes not caring one bit if the human female was mad at him. All he cared about was getting back to their previous work at the home before it started to get too late. After all, they did do the one task they sat out to do on their break and he was not going without a nest one more night. With that, Hiccup hoped on his dragon and they went back towards the house.
When the duo reached their home, Hiccup caught an interesting sight near the back of the home. Dust was there like usual, but she was not alone. There next to the semi relaxed dragon sat his wife who was gently soothing her hand over her scales and humming a soft lullaby. The Night Fury was still on guard and it was quite easy to see with how her body language was reacting to certain sounds the men were making during the construction.
Upon seeing her husband fly in Eira smiled, but continued to keep the stress level of her dragon down. Even some of the workers joined the boy's side when he landed and commented on the scene, more specifically on Eira.
"Who knew that little lady could sing like that."
"If I wasn't married and a few years younger," one of the men said, but was punched in the face on the behalf of Hiccup who was very grateful.
The original rider smiled and listen to her sing, "Well I haven't heard it in a while that's for sure."
"Well it's no wonder why you married her lad."
"One of them agreed and added, "I know if my wife sung like that I wouldn't have to plug my ears at night. Might even get a decent night sleep."
Eira stopped her little melody and turn to the men, "Now I am sure your wife wouldn't be to please to hear that come from you. Besides you must like her for some reason you did marry her."
The male nodded and ended up with a dreamy look on his face, "Ah yes she is the light of my life."
Some of them giggled and snickered at the lovesick dog, but Hiccup managed to round them back in, "Okay enough with the small talk fellas we need to make sure this stable is ready. I am sure Dust would love not to be out in the open with her egg any longer than she needs to be."
They all got to shuffling back to work as Toothless went to join his mate to settle down. The male night Fury watched as the Vikings went inside the two-door entryway of the stable placing random bunches of hay and a large enough slab of metal to fit the trio of dragons. The sun was about to set when the teen called that the place was finished. When it was, Toothless was the first one inside checking his newly furnished home. All the Vikings watched the Night Fury outside carefully.
He walked around cautiously sniffing and looking at every element inside. The dragon scratched at some of the metal bearings that were around the post. He even did his usual sleep setup on the metal slap that was to be their bed. He did not relax for it was only part of his inspection process. Stirring up some of the hay and dirt he waited until it settled down to proceed. He stalked over a good size stone and sniffed it. His teeth became bared immediately after doing so and the men outside waiting barely had a chance to dodge the flying rock that the Night Fury shot out to get rid of it.
"I guess he didn't like your pebble Gywn."
Gywn cried out, "My good boulder!" they all watched as he went chasing after the stone.
The rest of them continued to watch the dragons antics, but soon they all had to duck as toothless came bolting out in a blur almost tackling them all over. He came back with a large hallow out log and happily carried inside the stable. When finally satisfied with the place he came out and walked over to his mate and egg. Carefully he obtained her attention making the human female next to her stop her singing as Dust acknowledge him. She unwrapped herself from her position and gave all who were quick enough to stand to see the beautiful dragon egg that was their hatchling. The mother dragon carried it in her mouth as the father led her to their new nest.
The auburn hair husband helped his pregnant wife to her feet to witness their friends enter their new place.
Everyone was excited and nervous for if the female Night fury did not like it they may have to start from the beginning. She crept slowly inside. Her golden eyes darting every which way and Toothless was not far behind even if he could not tell what she was thinking.
She did not waste time like the male did and headed straight to the still warm metal bed. She laid the egg down carefully and once more repositions herself on top of it, holding in the heat it needed. The way she inspected the room was by seeing and her head was turning very slowly to obtain the view. The only thing her eyes landed on that was not right was the log. Toothless was over by the piece of wood in a blink of an eye and was graciously defending the one touch he personally placed in the nest. Dust looked straight at him and bobbed her head up.
He tilted his head in confusion making her redo the gesture. He moved to the end of the log and she waited patiently for him to do what she was asking. All he did was push the end an inch and turned back to her. A smile graced her muzzle and she finally approved the man made nest they now called their home. The male bounced towards her happily and rested with his small family while taking one more look over the stable. There were three entrances inside the stable. One to the outside that they had entered from, another was a doorway that they could enter the human's home, and then there was of course the small hatch on the stables roof if they choose to use. For now, the other two were closed and the only one being used was the one they entered.
Hiccup and Eira stood there proud at the work that was done to their home and very happy that their friends had a place of their own. Eira held Hiccup's hand and leaned to place a small kiss on his cheek.
"You did a wonderful job Hiccup. You all did."
"Thank you miss," replied one of the men and others followed. Hiccup smiled and shook all their hands to thank them.
She also added, "I believe the Great Hall is close to serving dinner. You all are welcome to join us if you want."
"It would be a nice welcome even," the male Haddock encouraged.
Some of them agreed to the offer, while others declined to spend the meal with their own families. Either way it seemed that some normalcy was returning to the island and the couple could not be happier, especially when they were going to start their own generation soon.
Author's Note: There you have ti the continuation of Dust in the Skies. Sorry for the late update and I do not know how fast I will be posting chapters because of school and since that is more important this is on the back burner and will be updated whenever I get the chance. Other than that tell me what you think of the first chapter.
