A/N: Surprise! I'm still alive! I would've updated sooner, but my flash drive with the most updated version of this chapter was stolen. Now that I've managed to recreate it the best I could, I am presenting it to you. Well, I hope you like it. R&R, please! P.S. I don't own any of this, except the plot line and any OCs I come up with.
Stoic the Vast sat glumly in his chair in the mead hall on Berk. Ever since the disappearance of his son, Hiccup, eight months prior, he had been in a virtual state of depression. He hated himself, knowing that he had probably driven his son away by forcing the boy to train with the other teenagers in the art of dragon killing. After the last raid, Hiccup had tried to tell his father that he did not want to kill dragons anymore, but Stoic would not listen. Now, he was regretting every time he had ever told Hiccup that being himself was not enough for Stoic. The Chief of Berk vowed to Odin the All-father to cease dragon hunting forever if he could have Hiccup back. He was so caught up in making his silent, but solemn, vow that he didn't even notice his best friend and his brother-in-law making their way over to his chair.
"Stoic, we have news.", Gobber said quietly.
"About Hiccup?", Stoic asked hopefully.
"No, Stoic, this is about the dragons. The scouting crew we sent out looking for Hiccup and the Hofferson girl saw all of the dragons flying to this one particular island a month's journey away. We may have found their nest!", Spitelout responded happily, but Stoic's face fell.
"And what of Hiccup-and Astrid?", the chief asked, adding Astrid's name in as a last moment thought.
"Nothing, as far as we could tell, aside from the missing Nadder tells us anything about what happened to them. Stoic, perhaps it's time for you to realize that Hiccup is not coming home unless that Nadder returns and we slice its stomach open and his body falls out. There is no version of this in which he comes back alive.", Spitelout tried to reason with his brother-in-law.
"No, Spitelout. Hiccup is not dead. I am sure of that! I would know if my son was dead; I would feel that pain so deep in my heart that I would never rise from my bed again. My son is alive, and I will find him. Have someone try to track that Nadded that escaped. I have a feeling that Hiccup is wherever that winged devil flew. As for the others in the arena, keep them locked up, but keep them fed. We won't have any dragons to train the next batch with if we let those remaining three die, as we haven't been raided and able to replenish out stock in months.", Stoic said, turning to face the two men.
"But, Stoic, that could take years-", and Spitelout found himself cut off by the redhead.
"I don't care if it takes the rest of my life, I will find my son. How would you feel if it were Snotlout?", and Gobber decided to stay out of the two men's conversation at this point.
"Right, Stoic, I'll get that taken care of.", and though it took nearly a decade, Spitelout did what he was asked to do.
Seven Years Later
A large, stone house sat atop a hill, overlooking an equally large village filled with humans and dragons alike. It was in that house that the village's chief (and one nest of dragons' king) lived with his family. He was only twenty-two, but everyone respected him and did as he asked without question. Everyone in the village, called Crystilian, spoke Norse and Dragonese. Dragons from far and wide would come to the village seeking something. Whether it be help, love, or companionship, the dragons usually got what they wanted.
The chief was not a cruel man. It was against his nature to hurt others, and all knew it. The only times he had hurt a dragon were when he accidentally crippled the Night Fury he had long since bonded with, and when he took down the ferocious Red Death, to which he lost his leg.
His wife was a different story. She was a warrior at heart, and she had very little patience for stupidity; she had even less for rule breakers. As beautiful as she was, she was ten times more deadly, as was the Nadder she rode on.
Their eldest child was a daughter they had adopted prior to moving to the village. She had long chestnut hair and striking emerald eyes. Unless you knew it, you would never have thought that she was not the chief's blood daughter. She was so like him that the entire village would forget she was adopted until her birthday each year. Janne even rode a Night Fury like her father.
The couple's second child was their first born and eldest son. He had only just turned four years old, but Viktor was quite the ladies' man and trouble maker with his strawberry-blonde hair and bright green eyes; and no one could forget the black, white, and blue Nadder that went everywhere with him.
The third and fourth children were twins, girls. Holly and Iris were their names, and they were every bit the flowers they were named for. Holly was shy, quiet, and well-behaved for a three year old, while Iris was outgoing and wild. Their personalities differed so much, that each of the two had even bonded with a different dragon right around their third birthday.
The fifth child was the only other boy. At ten months old, Erik was every bit his father's son. He had just began to walk, and he knocked over everything in his path when he took his first steps. The two parents were almost certain he, too, would bond with a Night Fury.
On the Tyrsday morning prior to the Dragon Festival, a small ship arrived at the docks. The passengers were shocked to see people running, dragons flying, and everyone calling out one name.
"Viktor! Where are you, Viktor?", called out a dark haired young woman as she ran passed them.
"Janne, I've found them! Just in time, too, by the looks of it!", a young man called back to the girl as he made his way over to her with a small boy on his hip and a Nadder hatchling at his feet.
"Kari, thank you so much! Vik, do you know how much trouble you are going to be in when Mommy gets back from her flight?", the young woman, Janne, said as she turned from the young man to the little boy.
"Don't be too hard on him. They just wanted to go and play, but they got scared by a ship coming towards the docks. I've already got him to tell me why he was even out of the house, so I wouldn't think of trying to get much more out of him.", the young man replied.
But before Janne could reply, a blue Nadder landed between the docks and the village. The woman astride the dragon was familiar to all of them, but not familiar all the same. She was tall, blonde, and curvy-yet not bulky. Almost as soon as she dismounted, she turned to the young people in front of her.
"We have company. The people on the docks behind Stormfly are from Berk. One of them is your grandfather, Janne. Stormfly is going to escort the younger two home, and you two have an important assignment.", Astrid said quietly.
"Mom, what do we have to do?", Janne asked, taking a ribbon from her belt and tying her hair back as she spoke.
"You and Kari need to find your father. He went flying with Toothless, and I don't want them coming back into an unknown or hostile environment. I'll handle the Berkians for a while. Go get Angel and Spike, and get to it.", Astrid ordered, and the two teenagers ran towards their dragons, leaving Astrid to let out a sigh before nodding to her best (non-human) friend.
As Stormfly took off with the toddler and the hatchling, Astrid had one thought.
'Well, here goes pretty much everything!'
But before she could speak, before Kari and Janne had even taken off, a familiar cry reached everyone's ears. It was a Night Fury, and this one had a clearly identifiable trait: a red prosthetic fin. The man astraddle the creature was taller than the blonde woman. Most of his appearance was impossible to make out due to his head-to-toe armor, but the prosthetic leg was plainly visible.
"We mean you no harm. We are from the island of Berk, and we wish to speak with your chief on a specific matter.", Stoic said to the two.
"Well, this is the chief. Ruffnut, quit ogling my husband!", Astrid snapped when she saw her old friend starring at the masked Hiccup.
The moment her voice rang out, the Berkians gasped and blinked as if they had never before seen such a person.
"Astrid?", her mother asked.
"M-m-mom?", she asked shakily in reply.
"Oh, Astrid! We thought you were dead! We were so worried, and we even had that marriage contract between you and Stoic's son destroyed. We figured that, on the off chance you weren't dead, that you might have ran off because you were in love with some stranger, like a trader from one of the other islands who shows up a few times a year.", her mother said as she cried and hugged Astrid.
"You, Dad, and Stoic made up a marriage contract between me and Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III?", Astrid asked her mother with a smirk.
"I know you didn't really like him, but we knew you would be a better leader than he would've been.", Astrid's father stated, but Astrid only laughed.
"No, I'm not upset. I never would've been.", Astrid told them, but they looked at her skeptically.
"I don't understand why anyone would want to marry Hiccup? That contract sounds like Hiccup gets a better deal than Astrid.", Snotlout replied confusedly, and then it was Hiccup's turn to laugh, as he dismounted Toothless and briefly watched his best friend run towards their house.
"Actually, it sounds pretty convenient to me.", he said as he removed his helmet.
Everyone starred, and their eyes met Hiccup's. The only person not stunned into silence was Gobber, who could not keep the smile off of his face.
"Not so much a toothpick anymore, Hiccup. I knew you'd grow up well!", he said to his former apprentice.
"Thanks for the support, Gobber, and for everything else.", Hiccup responded, gesturing to his left leg.
"It was no trouble, seeing how you lost it in the first place. That girl Astrid sent off to find you, just before you landed, must be your Janne.", Gobber said, and Hiccup nodded happily.
"Am I the only one who is highly confused here?", Stoic asked, and Hiccup gulped at the realization of confronting his father after seven years.
"Um, hi, Dad.", he barely managed out in reply.
Stoic did not yell, did not raise his voice, and did not get angry. Quite the contrary, he pulled his son into a hug and spoke in the quietest voice Hiccup had ever heard him use.
"I thought you were dead!"
"I'm sorry, Dad, about not telling you I was leaving. I knew if I did, you wouldn't have let me go. If I stayed, I would've embarrassed you again. Let me tell you, though, after today, I will never be more upset with myself for leaving than I am now.", Hiccup replied, deciding he would tell his father (and the other Berkians) his (and Astrid's) tale after he had checked up on his children, Viktor in particular.
"And why is that, son?", Stoic asked as he released Hiccup from his vast arms.
"Because I have never been more terrified than I was today when I was told my son had gone missing.", Hiccup answered before taking off towards his house.
"Follow me, don't touch anything, don't even think about trying to kill a dragon, and stay quiet. All of your questions will be answered once we get inside the house.", Astrid said as calmly as she could before running after Hiccup.
Janne and Kari took one look at what was going on at that moment from above the scene from on their dragons before flying over to the beach to help set up for the Dragon Festival. It was best to let Astrid and Hiccup deal with this on their own before Janne made her "grand entrance" as she liked to call it.
Inside the stone house, Hiccup found his son in the family room, staring into the glowing fire in the fire place.
"Hey there, Bud. I'm glad you're home.", he said as he sat down beside the four year old.
"Daddy, who was on the boat?", Viktor asked as he curled up at Hiccup's side.
"Well, it was your grandparents, my cousin, and some old friends of Mommy and me. Why were you so scared of them?", Hiccup replied, and the toddler looked up at him with his wide green eyes.
"I wasn't scared!", Hiccup gave him a look, "Maybe I was a little scared? Some people don't like dragons, and Strike is a dragon."
"Vik, I know you were scared about losing Strike. I used to be scared of losing my best dragon-friend, too. When you saw that boat, what should you have done?", Hiccup asked his son calmly, but Viktor only looked at the floor.
"You should've come home. Your mommy was so worried, and I didn't even know you were missing until Sharpshot found me. Then, I was worried, too; and I was scared.", Hiccup allowed himself a small smile at the shocked look his son was giving him.
"But daddies can't be scared of anything!", he gasped.
"Oh, yes, we can be scared. Nothing scares me more than losing you, one of your sisters, or your mommy.", Hiccup said as the Berkians and Astrid walked into the house.
"What about Grandma?", Viktor asked, and Hiccup shook his head.
"Losing her doesn't scare me as much as losing one of you guys because I've lost her before. I'll explain it to you when you're older.", Hiccup told the toddler, who shrugged in reply.
"Okay. May I go play now?", he asked his father while batting his eyes.
"Go play with the toys in your room for now, or go see if the twins want to play a game with you; but no more playing outside until you talk with your mommy.", Hiccup said before placing a quick kiss to the toddler's head.
Viktor ran off, and Hiccup turned around, only to come face to face with his father.
"What did you mean about losing your mother?", Stoic asked as footfalls sounded on the stone staircase.
"Hiccup, what is Viktor talking about? He said something about your father being...here. Stoic?", it was Valka.
"Um...hehe...yeah. Dad, meet Mom. Mom, meet Dad. I think you two already know each other though.", Hiccup said awkwardly.
A/N: I am still alive! Surprising, isn't it? Well, after having it missing/taken for two months after a long stretch up writing Marvel stories, my flash drive has returned to my possession! I know this chapter was short, but I felt as if I owed you all something for being so patient with me! R&R!
P.S., The names of Kari and Janne's dragons have nothing to do with the Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angle characters of the same name. Spike just happens to be a Nadder, which has spikes all over its head and spine.
