Long time, no see, Dragonites! Sorry I haven't been active as of late. College has now introduced me to a new challenge and it's been taking up most of my time.

What is this new challenge, you ask?

Two words...RESEARCH PAPERS.

And to my guest reviewer, sachsm sorry, but I can't take suggestions right now. I'm rather busy. So sorry!

A quick update before I have to go off the writing radar again. Enjoy! PS: This is a mother-daughter one-shot. Prepare for the feels!

NOTE: I DO NOT OWN HTTYD!

Special Little Girls

The South (30 years ago)

Five-year-old Zenna Arrowhead Fiersome was bouncing in her seat by the time Miss Ingrid called her up to the front of the class. Today, everyone was going to show pictures they had drawn of their mothers and fathers for Parents Day and talk about them. And, now, it was her turn. Eagerly trotting to the front of the class, Zenna took a deep breath and unfolded the large sheet of parchment where she had drawn her masterpiece.

"Oooohhh!" "Ahhhh!"

Miss Ingrid smiled as her class looked at the wonderful drawing Zenna made. In the drawing, a man with black hair and blue eyes and a woman with black hair and brown eyes were hugging a little boy with blue eyes and a little girl with violet eyes. Zenna then proceeded to talk about her Mom and Dad.

"This is my Mom and my Dad. My Mom's name is Henna Idun Fiersome. My Dad's name is Edgar Fiersome. They're the best parents in the whole, wide world. My Mom's a really great healer, she makes all the sick people better. And my Dad's a warrior who is really good at sword fighting and archery and is always ready to protect me, my brother Eli, Mom, and all of the South. My Mom's a warrior, too. She can wield a sword, an axe, or a mace like an expert. But, for me, they're the best when it comes to being parents to me and Eli. They're always there to teach us, play with us, tell us stories, and tuck us in every night, and they give the best hugs ever. What I really love about my Mom and Dad, aside from all these things...is that they are always supportive of my brother and I. They're the best parents ever!" Zenna concluded her little speech and bowed while the rest of the class clapped.

But one of them, a big girl with chestnut brown hair and watery blue eyes named Brenda, scowled and some other girls copied her.

When class let out for the day, Brenda and her cronies went over to Zenna. "Let me see that," she said gruffly and seized Zenna's drawing. The little girl voiced no complaint but thought that Brenda had been rather rude. Brenda looked at the drawing of Zenna's family and, after a minute, laughed along with the other girls. "These two can't be your parents. You're adopted!" Brenda laughed meanly. Zenna crinkled her brow in confusion. "What's 'adopted'?" she asked, confused, making Brenda laugh again. "It means that you're not really their daughter. You have different parents," one of Brenda's friends teased her.

Zenna looked even more confused. She'd known her parents all her life and her Mom and Dad, when introducing her to their friends, always called her "Our daughter" or, often in her Dad's case, "My precious little gemstone" and knew that they were her parents because they called her that.

Why was Brenda telling her otherwise?

"I don't have different parents. I only have one Mom and one Dad. I can't have another," Zenna told Brenda, but she smiled meanly at her as she produced a charcoal pencil from her bag. "Look real closely at your drawing. Your Mom has blue eyes. Your Dad has brown eyes. And your brother has blue eyes. What color are yours?" she asked, pointing to Zenna's drawings of her Mom, her Dad, her big brother, and, finally, jabbing a finger at her drawing of herself. "Violet..." Zenna mumbled timidly. "Exactly. If you were really your parents daughter, you'd either have blue eyes or brown eyes. But, since you don't then, that means you're not their daughter and you have different parents!" Brenda sneered before, to Zenna's horror, ruined her drawing by rubbing her charcoal pencil over the little violet-eyed girl in it, effectively erasing her from the family drawing! "No! I spent a whole night making that! I was going to give it to my Mom and Dad!" Zenna howled, making a grab for the sheet of parchment. But Brenda, her gang of mean girls cheering her on, held it out of her reach. "Well, where are they? Did they die? Did they give you up and send you to another Mom and Dad? I bet they did because you are a freak! You're adopted and a freak!" Brenda shouted and shoved Zenna before chanting, "Zenna's freaky adopted! Zenna's freaky adopted!" her band of bullies joining her as they walked away. Brenda made sure to drop Zenna's drawing on the ground and stomp on it really hard as she left.

Once the bullies were gone, Zenna went to retrieve her drawing. Tears welled up in her violet eyes as she saw the large charcoal black smudge that used to be her in the drawing and she pressed her lips tightly together so she wouldn't be able to cry. Miserable, Zenna trudged back to her house where her mother was waiting. "Hello, Zenna, love. How was today's lesson?" Henna asked with a warm and loving smile as her dear daughter entered the house. Quickly, Zenna hid her face using her drawing while making sure to show only the blank side of it and mumbled, "Okay..."

Henna's smile faltered as her sharp ears noticed the muffled sound of tears being stifled. "Sweetheart, what is it?" she asked worriedly. Zenna didn't say anything for a long while before finally spitting it out.

"Am I adopted?"

Stunned, Henna dropped the cooking ladle she had been using to stir the soup. "Adopted? Now, Zenna, where did you get that idea?" she asked in a slightly humored tone. Zenna, her face still covered by her ruined art, shrugged. Frowning, Henna went over to her little girl, knelt down, and gently took the drawing away from her. Zenna tried to keep her hands on it, but her mother gave a firm tug and she knew that she needed to let her see it. Henna took the drawing and looked at it closely. She smiled at the drawings of her, Edgar, and Elias, but frowned upon seeing the black smudge and dust dirtying the parchment. Seeing her mother's face as she looked at her work was too much for Zenna and she burst into tears. "Zenna, love, what's wrong?" Henna asked, now genuinely afraid that something had happened to her sweet daughter, and gently scooped Zenna into her arms. Through her hiccupping sobs, Zenna fessed up.

"I w-w-wanted to give you and Dad my d-d-drawing after school...B-b-but B-Brenda took it after class...Sh-she said th-that you and Dad aren't my p-p-parents b-b-because...b-be-because my eyes aren't the same color as y-y-yours or D-d-dad's...B-Brenda said that I was g-g-given up and s-s-sent to you and Dad bec-because...I'm a f-f-f-freak!" the little Fiersome girl whimpered, snot dripping down her nose, as big fat tears ran down her reddened cheeks.

Henna embraced her daughter, gently rubbing circles on her back and stood up so she could set her on a chair. "Oh, that mean Brenda is going to be in so much trouble when I have a chat with her. As for her saying that you're adopted...Zenna, love, you are my precious daughter. Why would you say you're adopted because of your beautiful eyes?" she asked softly. Sniffling, Zenna looked down at her knees. "Well I don't have brown eyes like you or blue eyes like Dad...Eli has blue eyes like Dad so he is your son and Dad's son. I should have eyes that are brown or blue like yours or Dad's, but I don't..." she said quietly. Henna smiled gently at her and took out a small handkerchief to gently wipe her dear little girl's tears away. "Well, then, sweetheart. I will be completely honest with you..." she began. Zenna looked at her mother apprehensively. Was she going to tell her that she was adopted after all?

"I went through six and a half months, filled with weird cravings, countless incidences of throwing up, crankiness, and several attempts to strangle your father when my tummy all but swelled into the size of a giant melon, before I had you. As a challenge it was to carry you around for such a long time...it had been all worth it when your father and I heard your first cry when you came into the world...and even more so when we saw you open your eyes for the first time..." Henna said softly and gave her daughter a loving smile. Zenna sniffed and felt something lift off her chest, making her feel a bit better. But, then, she looked down, her bangs covering her eyes. Okay, she wasn't adopted, that was a relief. But she was still a freak because she didn't have the same eyes as either of her parents. Henna immediately sensed that her daughter was still troubled because of her eyes and gently tapped her thumb against the underside of Zenna's chin so she would look up at her. "Do you want to know why your eyes are a different color from your father, Elias, and I, love?" she asked softly. Zenna nodded, no longer crying.

Henna smiled and gently kissed her forehead. "They're different because you're special, sweetheart. When I found out that your father and I were going to have another baby, we were so happy. We knew that our baby was going to be very, very, very special (As she said this, Henna playfully tickled Zenna s tummy to make her giggle). And the gods thought so, too. The reason why you have violet eyes, Zenna, is because the gods thought it to be fit that you have special-colored eyes to match your whole special you. They knew, even before your father and I did, that you are going to grow up to be a very special person so they decided to bless you with such unique eyes. You're special, Zenna, love. The most special of them all," she said with great love and affection. Zenna smiled and shyly asked, "Really, Mom?"

"Oh, most definitely! Now, then, let's have lunch. I made your favorite," Henna smiled. "Yay!" Zenna let out a small cheer before looking at the drawing that Brenda had ruined. "I'll make you and Dad an even better one, Mom. And it's going to be a really special drawing. It'll be a masterpiece!" she chirped as she helped her mother set the table. "I'm sure it will be, love, I'm sure it will be," Henna told her, smiling. "I love you, Mom," Zenna smiled, hugging her mother. "And I love you, Zenna...my sweet, special little Zenna..." Henna smiled, hugging her little girl back.

Berk (30 years later)

Gyda Lagertha GyLa Fiersome-Lothbrok covered her ears as a group of mean kids in the village surrounded her in a circle. Her eyes, her left eye a deep violet and right eye a dark brown, were welling up with tears as the kids chanted, "Freaky eyes! Freaky eyes! GyLa has freaky eyes!"

Eret and Zenna's youngest daughter had been just passing through a cabbage field on her way home from healer lessons with Gothi when she had been cornered by some of the local village brats.

Pressing her hands harder to the sides of her head, GyLa tried to get out of the circle only to get shoved back. "You're a freak! A freak!" one of the children, a boy with dirty brown hair, spat at her. "I'm not a freak!" GyLa protested, hiccupping on her tears. "Ooh, look! The freak's crying!" a girl with stringy blonde hair sneered. "Freak! Freak! Freak! Freak!" the brats jeered at her. GyLa bit her lip to keep herself from crying, but couldn't stop her tears from flowing. She just wanted to disappear...

"Hey! What's going on here?! Are you picking on our sister?!"

"Leave GyLa alone!"

Jason Tadashi and Hiro Fiersome-Lothbrok, GyLa's seven year-old big brothers, came to their little sister's rescue. All at once, the bullies scattered and left GyLa sniveling. "GyLa, are you okay?" Jason Tadashi (AKA JT) asked worriedly. GyLa just looked down, unable to meet her brothers 'gaze. "GyLa? Come on, sis , talk to us..." Hiro implored her.

GyLa merely stayed silent. She'd been ridiculed lots of times before and her brothers had always been there to help when she needed it. But, sometimes, she wished she could handle it by herself. She hated making her brothers always do the protecting.

Why did she have to be such a freak?

Unable to take it anymore, GyLa turned around and ran off!

"GyLa! Wait!"

"GyLa, where are you going?!"

Hiro and JT tried to run after their little sister but lost her when they got to the village plaza. The two boys looked at each other worriedly. Their father was out on a patrol with the Chief and the other Dragon Riders while all of their friends were busy with their own thing...

Then, they remembered...

"Mom/Mum,"

GyLa, meanwhile, had hightailed it to the Cove. It was where she, her brothers, Uncle El, and Uncle Hiccup's kids, Stoick and Audrey, always went to whenever they wanted to be alone, play together, and just hang out. The Cove was also where her family often had picnics with Skullcrusher and Stryka. Right now, she was here to mope. She looked at her reflection in the Cove's pond. Her strange eyes stared back at her. Honestly, GyLa had no idea why she was born with eyes that were two different colors. It was bad enough she'd been born premature and was a lot smaller than her friends, she had to be born with differently-colored eyes! The kids' jeers echoed in her brain, driving GyLa nuts until she finally swatted her reflection and buried her face in her arms and cried.

Suddenly, she heard the sound of flapping dragon wings and stopped crying long enough to look up and see Stryka land next to her. "Thanks, girl. I can take care of it from here. You go do your Alpha duties now," Zenna smiled at her draconian sister, who warbled and took to the skies. "Hi, Mama..." GyLa said quietly, drying her eyes. "Hey, baby..." Zenna smiled gently and sat next to her daughter. "Did JT and Hiro tell you about...?" GyLa asked timidly. Zenna nodded. "Luckily your father's away on patrol. He would have hunted those brats down if your brothers hadn't come to me instead. Remember the last time he saw someone pick on you?" she asked with a slight smile. GyLa managed to smile back a little. "Yeah...I remember. Papa was so mad that he had Skullcrusher blow fireballs at those bullies..." she replied, recalling how furious her father had been when someone had teased her. "He kind of embarrassed me to be honest..." GyLa mumbled, blushing. "Well, that's your father for you, GyLa. He's protective, but you know why, right?" Zenna smiled at her. Nodding, GyLa cast her gaze to the two reflections in the water.

For as long as she could remember, with the exception of her eyes, GyLa was often told that she was a dead ringer for her mother. Same nose, ears, face shape, and even down to how she clenched her jaw and a small crease appeared right above her right eyebrow whenever she was troubled. GyLa was a miniature version of Zenna the same way JT and Hiro were miniature versions of Eret. And, no doubt about it, GyLa was Eret's precious little girl and, whenever she was bullied or teased, Eret was, if not usually, the one who reacted first. Put JT and Hiro with their father and GyLa essentially had her own trio of bodyguards.

"Mama, am I a freak?" GyLa suddenly asked. Zenna blinked her one violet eye at her. "Of course not, GyLa. Why would you say such a thing? Did those bullies call you a freak? Oh, I'd like to see them call you a freak again when I set Stryka and Medic on them," she said, smirking mischievously. "Mama!" GyLa cried out, not wanting to be embarrassed any further, and buried her face in her hands. "Kidding!" Zenna lightly laughed and gently pried her daughter's hands away from her face. "You know why they call me a freak, Mama! It's because of my eyes! JT has your eyes! Hiro has Papa's eyes! I don't have your eyes or Papa's eyes! I...!" GyLa managed to exclaim before Zenna softly said, "You have both." Making her stop mid rant. "Yeah...I have both..." the young girl mumbled. "What's so freakish about that? At least you still have both eyes...and you weren't told that you were adopted," Zenna looked at her with a slightly saddened smile.

"Huh?" GyLa raised her right eyebrow and cocked her head to the side. "I experienced the same thing when I was your age, sweetheart. Did your Aunt Heather ever tell you that your Auntie Brenda used to be my worst enemy?" Zenna asked with a smile. "Auntie Brenda? No!" GyLa gasped in shock. "Oh, yes. Auntie Brenda used to make fun of me mercilessly. One time she told me that I was adopted because I didn't have the same eye color as your Grandma or your Grandpa. She even ruined a drawing I made for them when I was little and beat me up!" Zenna recounted the times Brenda, her former bully turned friend, used to torment her and GyLa listened, her eyes widening with every tale. When Zenna finished telling her that she and Brenda were now good friends, GyLa took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Holy Shields...I didn't know Auntie Brenda used to be such a meanie..." she murmured. Zenna laughed and gently pulled her daughter into her lap. GyLa smiled and snuggled into her, making Zenna smile. She couldn't help but notice how she and her daughter were so much alike. They'd both been born premature, had physical features that made them stand out, and were both gifted in the art of healing. And they'd had their fair share of teasing, that's for sure...

"You know, growing up, I had a bit of a hard time fitting in. My eyes set me apart from the rest of my family and some people back then even thought that I really was adopted. And, then, I lost my right eye...I had to endure some more teasing about going blind early. Then, there was the big Elemental thing. You're not alone in this, GyLa, I can assure you," Zenna said softly, gently running her hands through GyLa's short black hair. GyLa nodded and looked at her mother inquisitively. "Did...did Uncle Eli ever save you from bullies?" she asked, hoping she wouldn't upset her mother. She and her brothers knew that their Mama missed her big brother, their Uncle Elias I, and often wished that they could have met him. They didn't talk about their deceased Uncle Eli too much, though, because they knew it sometimes made their parents and Uncles El and Hiccup sad. Zenna smiled softly as she nodded. "Next to your Papa, your Uncle Eli was my hero. He was the second person to ever tell me that it was okay to be different, a little weird even. We, along with your Uncle Hiccup, called ourselves 'The Three Weirdos' when we were kids," she said gently. "Second? Who was the first?" GyLa asked, confused.

"Why, your Grandma. And what she told me back then is what I'm going to tell you now. GyLa, baby, do you want to know why your eyes are different colors?" Zenna asked her daughter with a loving smile. GyLa looked thoughtful for a moment before she shrugged. "You have different eyes because you are special. You are so, so special that the gods decided to give you such specially colored eyes to match your whole special you. They knew, even before your Papa and I knew we were going to have you, that you are going to be a very special girl and grow up to be an especially special lady...the most special of them all," Zenna told her and gently kissed her daughter's forehead. "Really, Mama?" GyLa asked, feeling excited all of a sudden. "Oh, yeah, definitely. And the best part of having one eye my color and the other being the same color as your father's? You've got a little bit of us both. Now that's something not many kids will be able to brag about," Zenna grinned and playfully tickled GyLa's tummy, making her giggle. "Now, come on! Let's go to Grandma and Grandpa's. Your brothers are waiting for you and they're helping Grandma make cookies," Zenna scooped her daughter up into her arms. "Double chocolate chip?" GyLa asked hopefully. "They are your and your brother's favorite," Zenna smiled. "Yay!" GyLa cheered.

At the Fiersome household, all was well. Edgar was currently helping JT and Hiro put on the finishing touches to their latest invention, the Gronckle Copter (a wooden toy Gronckle that had a windup helicopter blade attached to the top that the brothers hoped would work like a real helicopter when they wound it up) while Henna, Zenna, and GyLa, three generations of Fiersome women, bonded over milk, tea, and double chocolate chip cookies. "Hey, Mama..." GyLa handed her mother a cookie and hugged her. "Thanks for cheering me up, Mama. I love you," she said softly. "I love you, too, baby," Zenna smiled and they ate cookies together.

Henna didn't say anything, but smiled.

Oh, yes, she had taught her daughter how to be a mother very well.

Read and review! Those two things make me very happy :)

-GuardianDragon98