Through The Ups & Downs

Couple; Harrison X Briana

Rating; Mature

Disclaimer: I do not own HTTYD or any songs I might use! In addition, from this point in the story and in future chapters, I do not own the character Ella (Eira) Solveig. She belongs to a good friend, ShadowSpirit020.

27) Returning To Work

{Normal POV}

[Haddock Household; October 22, 2015]

The time was now 9:30 pm, the Haddocks and Harrison's friends were all settled in the living room to ride out the storm that was hanging over Berkville. Everyone could hear the pouring rain and thunder, the flashes coming through the windows of lightning outside. The winds howled fiercely and whipped through at speeds of thirty-two miles per hour. In truth, the group of them was not doing much now as the power had gone out an hour ago. The living room was lit by battery-operated lanterns, and the friends and family were talking about whatever came to mind. Now, the soldiers of Fury Fire Unit were talking about some of the fun times they had in Kuwait. Viviana and Spencer were listening in as well because it was interesting to hear of the moments while deployed where the soldiers got to a good time over working. Initially, Harrison had been showing pictures on his laptop to them and then the teammates would tell the story behind that particular photo.

"It's astounding all the things you guys and girls got to do," Viviana said softly at the end of a story about when the soldiers got to enjoy karaoke in Zone 1 during dinner.

"Well, they like us to wind down and relax a little after work so we don't get stressed out or too upset about things," Chelsea informed gently to Harrison's mother.

"Upset about what, if I may ask?" Frankie wondered curiously now.

"Most often, the case would be so we didn't get too upset over friends we've lost," Dexter enlightened.

"And how many losses did Wind Rider Platoon have?" Addilyn decided to ask hoping that it would not make any of the soldiers too uncomfortable to discuss.

"In the six months we were there, Wind Rider had five deaths. Two females and three males," Harrison stated from the couch with his eyes closed.

"Yeah, it wasn't easy to get through losing Cody, Jamie, May, Darrel, and Oliver," Syrus sighed.

"Cody was the first, and then, Darrel right after Harrison got back from his leave on that Saturday. May and Oliver were next on the same day, hours apart from one another, and then the last was Jamie," Olivia closed her eyes sadly.

"I can't even imagine the pain those families must be feeling," Viviana said sadly.

"What happens to their dragons, if any of them had one?" TJ inquired.

"Only two of them did. Cody had a male Gronckle named Crush, and after Cody died, Crush bonded to Cody's battle buddy, Blake. Darrel had a Changewing, male, named Camo. I believe Camo was returned to the family when Darrel's body was sent home for burial," Harrison mentioned.

"How did they die?" Regina asked. The room fell silent except for the storm continuing outside; the soldiers seemed to put their heads down with closed eyes. Addilyn happened to noticed that Harrison's fist tightened up but Briana placed her hand on his as he relaxed a little with her stroking her thumb over his knuckles. Finally, Harrison got up and left the living room. From what the group downstairs could hear, Harrison ended up going to his room and shutting the door.

"Y-You know, maybe this isn't the best topic to be discussing," Briana mentioned.

"It was just a question," Nate said innocently, not understanding what was going on.

"Yes, I know, Nate. But to them, and to Harrison, it's much more," Briana sighed softly while the others looked at her confused. "Syrus, Dexter, will you two go make sure he's alright since I'm unable to follow him up the stairs please?" she asked gently.

"Don't need to tell us twice. We know how much it hurt him," Syrus nodded as he and Dexter got up from their spots on the floor and moved upstairs to check on Harrison, who was in fact in his room.

"What did they mean?" Viviana asked. "When was Harrison hurt?" she continued.

"Not physically, Mrs. Haddock. Mentally and emotionally. Some of those five deaths were hard for the platoon to accept and get through and some were hard on certain individuals, Harrison being one of them," Chelsea explained in the easiest way she could.

"Harrison is basically the platoon leader," Olivia started.

"Wait, I thought Glenn Belmore was the head of Wind Rider?" Addilyn inquired.

"He is, however, out on missions, Harrison is in charge and reports back to Belmore via radio communications," Olivia replied after being cut off.

"I feel like I know where this is going. Missions were how these soldiers from your platoon were killed and it hurts Harrison because it happened on his watch, am I right?" Spencer wondered.

"Precisely," Briana nodded. At that moment, Syrus and Dexter returned. "How is he?"

"Same as he was in Kuwait after it happened," Dexter sighed.

"He wants to be left alone for a bit," Syrus finished. "The death Harrison told you about when he apologized to everyone, that death was the first one to hit the platoon and we all took it hard," he continued. "Cody Hart, bonded to a male Gronckle he named Crush. Shot twice, once in the leg and then another bullet struck him in the neck. Cody died within minutes and he passed away as we were carrying him out of the mission site," Syrus closed his eyes.

"Harrison had been the one to see it happen, the rest of us didn't see the damage until Harrison was carrying Cody towards extraction point," Chelsea informed.

"Darrel Payne was lost in an RPG blast, recovered his body two days later and identified him by his tags," Olivia stated.

"Next was May Collins and Oliver Clarke, neither had bonded to a dragon. May passed away that morning while on patrol in a neighboring town. It was an ambush and she was shot in the head, Harrison saw that happen and was the one to rush out into the street to get her body to bring back with us," Dexter enlightened.

"Don't talk about, Dex. We almost lost Harrison that day too," Chelsea covered her ears.

"What do you mean, what happened?" Spencer asked now.

"Harrison got stuck fighting one of the ground enemies had to hand, he got stabbed in the side. Nothing vital got hit and the wound only had him down a week and a half after getting stitches from the Medical Center when we got back. It was not life threatening, it just seemed that way because we got scared that the fight happened during a firefight and he could have been shot rather than stabbed. Also, Harrison passed out on the chopper before we reached base and admitted later on to it being because of pain from the injury," Syrus informed.

"You try getting stabbed in the side and tell me it don't hurt," Harrison remarked from the staircase and coming into view.

"Hey, I never said that it didn't hurt man," Trevor chuckled, "But you still scared the hell out of us," he added.

"Why were we never told about this?" Viviana questioned.

"While we're deployed, we're not permitted to discuss anything that happens unless cleared to do so by our commanding officers. Aaron and Glenn didn't permit us to talk about this until after the tour was over. I believe it has something to do with them not wanting to worry the families and create a more stressful environment for us than it already is," Dexter responded calmly.

"Meaning?" Nate tilted his head to the side.

"How can I put this to make it easier?" Harrison tapped his chin. "Alright, got it. You know how while I was deployed, you guys were content with things because you thought it was fine?" he asked and Nate nodded to him. "Well, overseas, we stress a lot as it is and the officers feel that some things are better left untold to the families until later on so that they are calling constantly and worrying about things. In short, if they don't know, then they can't worry,"

"OH! I get it now," Nate smiled as Harrison ruffled his hair. "Are you okay?" he asked next.

"I'm fine. Death is never easy to talk about, more over when it is your friends that are dying. I accepted what happened and I also know that it can happen to anyone, including me, but that doesn't mean I want to hear about it when I had to live it," Harrison smiled lightly. "The other two who died were Oliver Clarke and Jamie Sandoval. Oliver passed away the same day May did, it was a week after Briana went missed. Oliver wandered away from the group too far and was killed, won't go into detail about as I'm not allowed to say more than that regarding his death,"

"And Jamie was killed in action a week before we came home; she got trapped in a collapsing building after an RPG strike. We dug her out, but she was already gone," Olivia said softly. Harrison sat down next to Briana and kissed her forehead.

"You know, we never did do the thing we said we would," Trevor smiled looking around the room at the Fury Fire soldiers.

"What did you say you'd do?" Frankie asked curiously.

"We'd honor our fallen platoon members in some way or another, never got around to it because we couldn't think of something to do in their memory," Syrus told them. "Though, Harrison, you've yet to give an idea about what we should do," he added.

"At the end of the day, they are fallen heroes. All we can do is bow our heads and pray that they've found peace in the afterlife while we remember them as they were and never forget that they paid the ultimate sacrifice for freedom as all of us who are soldiers know that we may have to pay the same," Harrison said his army friends.

"Well put, son," Spencer nodded in agreement.

"I only spoke the truth, Dad," Harrison shrugged.

"But it makes all the difference to say it that way, babe," Briana smiled to him as she held his hand and Harrison returned the smile gently as Briana ended up yawning.

"You're pain medication is kicking in, that's why you're tired, Love. Time to call it a night," Harrison told her lightly. "There's nothing much else to do with the storm, best we all get some rest," he added as Briana laid down on the couch and Harrison made sure to keep her ankle propped up before placing the blanket over her. "Sleep well, beautiful," he then kissed her lightly before lying down in his spot and covering up to relax. Not long after, the rest of the living room group did the same.

"Harrison?" Briana asked after the lights went out.

"Yeah, babe?" Harrison replied.

"I love you," Briana said lightly.

"I love you too," Harrison responded as they kissed again. Harrison held her hand and soon the two of them fell fast asleep holding hands and smiles on their faces.

{Harrison's POV}

[Sunday, October 25, 2015-Fort Benning]

We had just arrived in Georgia at Fort Benning after a long sixteen-hour flight with two layovers. The only difference with this trip to the USA was that only members of Fury Fire were here this time. Not even Glenn or Aaron had come, my position as Sergeant meant I could lead the unit by myself. Our purpose here was to help with the dragon training and the cool part was that we didn't have to live at Fort Benning. For now, we were going to live there because we would need time to find another place to stay. I was nervous right now, Briana's family was meeting us there to take her home so this is where I would finally get to meet them and I hoped they liked me as much as my family liked her. For the moment, all I could do was thinking about the last few days that I was in Berkville with my family and friends.

The remaining days of being in Berkville were interesting. The storm passed overnight and the next morning, Addilyn left with Stormfly before the sun rose. I had a feeling she did not want to be at my parent's house any longer than she had to be because of watching Briana and I interact with one another as boyfriend and girlfriend. I had expected nothing less, Addy did let me know that she needed time to get over me so being stuck at the house because of the storm and watching Bri and I probably was not easy for her. I spent Friday and Saturday making sure everything was ready for today, we left at 4 am from Arc Isle and promised to stay on contact as much as we were able. I was so tired, I wanted to get some sleep, but I promised Briana I'd meet her family so here went everything.

"Briana! Oh, sweetheart!" greeted Mia Grayson, Briana's mother who rushed over to hug her daughter carefully.

"Easy, Mom. Still a bit sore," Briana reminded her mother while being hugged; Mia released her as Briana then embraced her father and two siblings.

"We're so glad you're safe, sis," Jasmine, Briana's younger sister said softly.

"You can thank Harrison for bringing me home safely," Briana smiled.

"We've heard a lot about you, Harrison," Alexander, Briana's brother stated.

"Well, aren't you going to introduce us, Briana?" came Carter Grayson's question followed by a smile.

"Of course. Mom, Dad, Alex, Jaz, this is Harrison Haddock and he's both the soldier who saved me from being MIA and my boyfriend," Briana introduced. "Babe, these are my parents, Carter and Mia. And then my siblings, Alex and Jasmine," Briana added.

"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintances," Harrison smiled and shook hands with the family members.

"Thank you for saving our Briana," Mia said softly as she hugged Harrison tightly.

"Bri means a lot to me, Mrs. Grayson." Harrison replied calmly.

"That makes you part of the family then. We hope you will join us for dinner on Friday night after work? We'd like to get to know you more, Harrison," Carter offered.

"Absolutely. I would be delighted to join you and your family, sir," Harrison nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow, babe?" he asked while holding Briana's hand.

"Of course. I'm still on desk duty for another week, we can have lunch together," Briana told him.

"I'm down for that. Go on home and relax a little. I'll keep Nightstar with Toothless and I since your paperwork isn't completed yet," Harrison replied. Briana nodded to him as they shared a small kiss, then she bid Nightstar a goodbye. Harrison watched them leave as he then moved to his quarters that he would be sharing with Trevor while Dexter and Syrus had their own. Chelsea and Olivia had their own room too. All our dragons were put away in the stables which were directly across from our building where we'd sleep and shower. Nightstar was next to Toothless, I had a strong feeling that come Snoggletog time, those two were going to mate and we would have Fury babies roaming around by the New Year when this assignment was supposed to be over or so we were informed.

My current orders were to help with the dragon training, and report to Aaron or Glenn once a week to let them know how things were going. If all went well, I would be back in Berkville in before my twentieth birthday. I was relaxing in my room now, finally showered and laying down. Tomorrow started me returning to work.