Hiccup and Astrid: around 28 years old; Zephyr: 5 years old; Nuffink: 1 year old

"One! Two! Three! Hoist, men!"

Loud grunts could be heard as the strongest of Berk's men pulled the ship full of fish back over land before resting it on the ground again. Some doubled over trying to catch their breath, others simply wiped the sweat from their brow and pushed to the next task. Hiccup put his hands on his hips and leaned his head back, breathing deep. A heavy hand landed on his shoulder.

"Go on back home, Chief. I'll lead the unloading from here," Eret said.

"Are you sure? I can stay and help."

"Nah, I can handle it. It's just fish," Eret insisted, catching a basket full of fish one of the shipmates threw down off the deck. "Take the little one home, I'm sure Astrid needs help with the sick babe anyway."

Hiccup nodded his head and left the men to unload, not needing any more convincing to return to his wife and small son. He had been sick and feverish for a week now, and being barely a year old Hiccup didn't like to be away long in case something worsened. He knew Astrid was worried, as was Hiccup, and though Valka insisted it was nothing to be worried about, they just accepted they wouldn't feel better until their son was feeling better too.

Hiccup turned and made his way back to the children playing further down from the Skydocks, searching for the "little one" Eret had mentioned.

"Zephyr! Come on, little one, time to go back home to Mommy and Baby Nuffink!"

His daughter was far too involved in a conversation with the other children to hear Hiccup's call. He walked closer, curious as to what was so important. As he closed the distance, he noticed the children were having quite the debate.

"It is true! Daddy told me so!" Zephyr said

"So?"

"So, my Daddy is the chief!" Zephyr crossed her arms and turned up her nose, as if to say "and that's that," at the little boy next to her. He didn't seem convinced.

"Hey now, who's talking about me?" Hiccup joked, standing behind his daughter with his hands on his hips and a smile on his face. "Zephyr, time to go home," he repeated.

She smiled and scrambled to her feet and stretched out her arms and she stumbled towards her father. "Daddy, will you please tell, um, tell Sten that, that, um, oh-" She stopped and pulled her hands back when she realized she was reaching for Hiccups prosthetic, eyes widening for a brief moment. Hiccup chuckled silently to himself, remembering the time two seasons ago when Zephyr had almost pinched her little fingers in the mechanisms of Hiccup's prosthetic leg. She hadn't been to fond of it ever since, and Hiccup still felt bad about almost hurting his little girl. But she composed herself just as quickly as she had been knocked off track, changing directions and wrapping her arms around his good leg instead. "-um, tell Sten that, that the dragons are real!"

Hiccup reached down to scoop Zephyr up into his arms, but paused. "Tell him what now?"

"Tell him about the dragons!" she said, bouncing in place. "Like my bedtime stories!"

"Oh, goodness, those were some good stories, weren't they?" Hiccup said, stalling. He knew Sten's parents, and they didn't talk about the comrades from the past. They had been some of the only few in Berk who never quite took to the creatures like the rest of the village did. They never fought against them, but they never had dragons of their own either, and much more preferred to do things the "traditional Viking" ways.

"Yeah, but they're just stories, right Chief Hiccup?" Sten asked, a little too confident in himself.

"Nuh-uh! Daddy, tell him!" Zephyr begged.

"Well..." Hiccup began, unsure where to go from there.

"Sten! Stop botherin' the Chief, and come help yur father!" a woman's voice called. Hiccup sighed to himself as Sten ran off, thankful to dodge that arrow. Well, today at least.

Hiccup leaned over to pick up Zephyr, but she pulled away from his hands, crossing her arms around her chest and hugging her elbows.

"Hey... What's the matter, my little warrior?" Hiccup asked gently, kneeling next to her.

"You didn't tell him," she said through her pout. "Why wouldn't you tell him, Daddy? Now he's gunna tell all the other kids that I make up stupid stories and lie! They're gunna make fun of me..." Hiccup saw tears forming in the corners of her eyes, and his heart shattered. He tried to think of a way to explain to his little girl why it just wasn't so simple in the grown-up's world, but she was far too young for that. A tear broke free from her bright blue eyes, and Hiccup couldn't take it.

He reached out his hand, letting his daughter decide when she was ready to let him comfort her. She looked sideways at it, trying to resist but also needing her father and the safety of his arms. She gave in quickly, unfolding her arms and laying a tiny hand in her father's outstretched one, admiring the similarities and differences in the two. Hiccup reached out and wiped a tear from her soft cheeks with his free hand. "Come here, little warrior. We have a stop to make before we go home." He lifted her up into his arms and set her on his hip, wiping away another tear before setting off.

Zephyr sniffled and rubbed her eyes with her knuckles. "Where we goin' Daddy?"

"We're going to go visit Grandpa," he said with a smile.

Zephyr simply rested her head on his shoulder and popped her thumb in her mouth in response. Usually Hiccup would be quick to correct this - at five years old, he knew she needed to leave that habit behind. But he would let it slide right now.

When they reached the statue of Stoick the Vast, Zephyr perked up and stared in wonder, as she always did when visiting her grandfather. But Hiccup had a more specific piece to show her today. "Zephyr, do you remember the first time I showed you this carving?" Hiccup pointed to one of the five carvings circling the base of the memorial.

Zephyr nodded. "Toothless."

"Right, Toothless. This carving represents the day he accepted me as his friend. Do you remember that story?"

Zephyr nodded.

"And what about this one?" Hiccup asked, moving down the timeline to point out a different carving.

"That's Grandpa and Skullcrusher," she said, eyes bright and twinkling.

"Very good, little warrior. And do remember the stories I told you about Grandpa and Skullcrusher?"

Zephyr nodded again, listening intently.

Hiccup carried Zephyr to a fallen tree nearby the statue, where he had sat with his daughter and wife many times while telling stories of Stoick the Vast. He sat down and set Zephyr on his lap. She waited patiently, familiar with this routine and awaiting her new story.

Hiccup took a deep breath. "You see, Zephyr, your Mommy and Grandpa and Grandma and I, we all had our own dragons. I had Toothless. Grandpa had Skullcrusher. Your mother had Stormfly, do you remember her stories about Stormfly?"

Zephyr nodded, watching her father carefully. "And Grandma had Cloudjumper! I already heard this one, Daddy!" she added with a small giggle.

"Yes, exactly, but I'm getting to the new part," Hiccup said with a chuckle. "Pretty much everyone in Berk had a dragon friend all their own. And everyone loved their dragons. They were our closest friends. The dragons were an important part of our family. But not everyone loved the dragons like we did."

Zephyr's eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. "Why, Daddy?"

"Well, some people didn't see the dragons as friends, darling. They wanted to use the dragons instead. They wanted to make the dragons do bad things to other people." Hiccup paused for a moment, feeling his throat tighten in sorrow. He looked up at his father's statue, remembering the day they lost him.

Zephyr followed her father's gaze slowly, connecting the dots in her head. "Is that why Grandpa died?" she asked carefully, quietly.

Hiccup closed his eyes and chuckled, ruffling her hair. "You're very smart, you know that? Yes, little one, that's why we lost Grandpa."

Zephyr looked at the ground, confused. "What happened, Daddy?"

Hiccup pursed his lips, watching Zephyr's eyes carefully. He wanted to tell her. He wanted her to understand. He just didn't want to hurt her, and she was still so young.

Zephyr reached up and caught a tear with her palm before it disappeared into Hiccup's beard. "It's okay, Daddy," she said. "I know all the stories can't be happy. I wanna know."

Hiccup smiled and kissed her forehead. These are the times Astrid jokes that she sees too much Hiccup in her. How was she only five years old? "Okay, but if you want me to stop you need to tell me, alright?"

"I promise, Daddy."

He nodded and took a deep breath, preparing himself to relive that awful moment. "There was a very evil man who wanted to control all the dragons in the world. He got a very special, very powerful dragon that had the power to control the minds of other dragons," he said, tapping her forehead. Zephyr was entirely enveloped in the story. "He brought this dragon to an island where your grandmother had hidden away and cared for all kinds of sick dragons. I was there with her. It was the first time I saw your grandma in a very, very long time. Your grandfather followed me, thinking I was in trouble. Your mother, along with all of your aunts and uncles, followed your grandfather to help, so they were there too."

"With all their dragons?" she interrupted, stringing the pieces together.

Hiccup nodded solemnly. "With all their dragons. And that evil man told the big Bewilderbeast dragon to take all of our dragons too, and so it did. Including Toothless." Hiccup paused, taking a deep breath. "I was not being very smart, and I didn't listen to your grandfather. I tried to talk to the evil man and reason with him, even though Grandpa said it wasn't worth it. To prove his point, the evil man made Toothless try to kill me."

Zephyr gasped quietly. "Daddy... Did Grandpa save you?"

Hiccup nodded. "He jumped between Toothless and me just as Toothless took the shot."

"But..." Zephyr started, shaking her head. "But I thought Toothless loved you, Daddy..."

"He did, sweetheart, very much. He loved Grandpa too. But when evil men decide they want something done, they will stop at nothing to get their way." Zephyr's eyes were filled with tears again. Hiccup reached up to wipe them away. "It's okay, we got Toothless and all the dragons back. We didn't say goodbye to them for another year after that. But we did lose Grandpa that day."

Zephyr looked up at the statue of her grandfather again, nodding her head slowly. Hiccup paused, giving her a moment to soak everything in. When she looked back at her father, her eyes were concerned. "It's not your fault, Daddy."

Hiccup was taken aback, not expecting her to be so concerned, or even catch on to her father's guilt. All he could bring himself to do was kiss her forehead and whisper a small "thank you" before he continued. "So to answer your question from earlier, yes, the dragons are real. They really did exist, and they still do. But they're far away now, somewhere that evil men can't find them and use them and hurt them."

"There were more evil men?" she asked, fearful.

Hiccup wrapped her in his arms and held her tight. "Yes, sweetheart, there were more. Your mother and I fought every single one of them, right alongside your aunts and uncles." He kissed her hair. "Your grandfather taught me a very important lesson: A chief protects his own. Or her own," he added with a smile, tapping his daughter's nose and making her giggle. "We realized the evil men wouldn't stop until they hunted down all the dragons, and we knew we had to let them go if we wanted to protect them. We had to send the dragons away, somewhere no one could find them, so they would be safe. And we vowed to keep their home a secret so no one would know where to look for them."

Zephyr nodded slowly, understanding what her father was saying. "So that's why you didn't tell Sten that the dragons are real."

Hiccup noticed a strand of Zephyr's hair had fallen out of her braid. He reached out to wrangle it back in, tucking it gently behind her ear. "If people start to forget about the dragons, or think they were just some made-up story, then there's less people that will go looking for them. Some things are better kept a secret, my little warrior. Do you think you can help me keep that secret?"

Zephyr looked into her father's eyes, nodding fiercely, always excited and determined when her father or mother gave her a job that sounded grown up. But then her expression softened, and she looked at her father yet again with caring, concerned eyes that seemed so out of place in her young face. "Will the dragons every get to come home, Daddy?"

Hiccup sighed. "I don't know, sweetheart."

She thought for a moment. "Will I ever get to see a real dragon?"

Hiccup thought for a moment as well, remembering a late night conversation he had with Astrid many moons ago. "Why don't we hold off on that question for a bit, okay?"

Zephyr looked confused, but didn't push any further. She simply nodding in agreement and nestled into her father's chest. Hiccup scooped her up with a playful growl and stood, showering her forehead and cheek with kisses, having enough of the serious, scary talk. Zephyr giggled delightedly, trying to pull away but stuck in Hiccup's strong hold. "Alright, little warrior, enough sad stories for today. Time to go home and help Mommy with baby Nuffink."

She scrunched her nose. "But he's sick!" she cried playfully.

"Ah, but a chief protects his own!" Hiccup bellowed, smiling and swinging Zephyr up onto his shoulders.

"You're the chief, Daddy, not me!" she laughed, grasping Hiccup's head to keep her balance.

Hiccup held onto her legs to keep her from falling off his shoulders backwards. "Oh, alright, then how about I'll take your sick baby brother and you can spend some time with your Momma. Deal?"

"Deal," she said, and planted a big kiss in top of her father's head.


Sorry this one is so much longer, I just couldn't decide what to cut out! Hope you enjoyed it anyway!

I also have a very specific story behind Hiccup's "little warrior" nickname so expect more father-daughter time here soon! :)