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.

38) Vacation Is Over

{Harrison's POV}

The music was going, a mix of everything to keep it simple. Everyone had a drink whether it be soda, juice, or water. Most us were standing or sitting around and talking. I had yet to tell anyone that Briana and I were going back to the states on Friday the 2nd of September because we knew it'd break their hearts to know that I was leaving again and still had no word on when I'd be back for good. Briana and I originally decided that we'd just visit as much as we could, but it still wasn't a fair trade off. Live in the US, but visit my home two or three times a year? Or on the flip side, live on Arc Isle but visit the states a few times a year? There had to be a better arrangement, yet nothing had come to mind so far. I was sitting in one of the chairs out in the sun, attempting to dry off from my quick dip in the pool forty-five minutes ago. I did have to admit in secret that it felt weird not having my hair anymore, I guess it didn't matter, it would grow back over the course of six or so months. I kept it short for the military anyway.

"That was a nice thing you did for your brother earlier, lad," I heard Glenn say to me as I looked over at him.

"It's just hair, I'm not losing much," I replied with a shrug.

"You talk to Wright?" Aaron questioned.

"Yeah. Bri and I return to the US on Friday, haven't told anyone yet," I answered calmly.

"And has there been word about the whole-," Glenn started.

"No, and I don't want to discuss it right now," I remarked while closing my eyes.

"I know it's hard not to tell th-," Glenn tried again.

"I said; I don't want to talk about it, Lieutenant Belmore," I said firmer.

"Easy, Haddock," Aaron instructed. "We're just checking on ya. Glenn told me about your wake up from the procedure," he stated as I flinched a little. "Bit of a rough time readjusting?" he asked next.

"It was at first, but I'm okay now. The shit in Afghanistan was…more intense than I expected," I stated.

"We know, we heard about what happened, laddie. And you know that you can talk to us or a professional if anything is bothering you about all that," Glenn offered. I stood up now with a sigh as I looked at them seriously.

"Look, this party is for my brother and I don't want to talk about work while I'm home, alright? Yeah, it sucked ass overseas, but what could I do? There was nothing I could have done to stop it without risking the rest of the team. Those soldiers died as heroes and that's how I'll remember them, even if it hurts to have watched what happened," I informed. "Excuse me," I said before walking away from Aaron and Belmore. Was it bad that I just wanted to grab Toothless and go flying? I knew I couldn't though, I didn't need to draw more attention to myself. My family and friends already wanted to know what happened those two months in Afghanistan, but I wasn't ready to talk about it and I was under oath not to say a word until cleared to do so.

I grabbed myself a water bottle and leaned against the back porch to relax. Suddenly the stereo cut out as Dexter and Trevor were trying to fix it. "Well, there goes the music. There's a short in the connector wire, way past repair too," Dexter stated.

"Harry, what about your truck?" Nate asked. I sighed, I knew Nate loved music as much as I did so I couldn't exactly say no to him when it was his party.

"Dad, unlock the gate and make sure everyone stays outta the path," I called to him as I put my drink down and moved around the front of the house after pulling my keys out of my pocket. Five minutes later, I pulled my truck to the grass line and got out as I laid out a few flat board. I knew how Dad was about his grass and I promised him I'd never drive on it with the truck, this was the only way to get the truck back there without being on it directly.

"You need someone to direct you in?" Trevor asked.

"Nah, I got it," I said as I got back in the truck and turned it around then started backing up onto the boards slowly, I made the tight curve and left the truck parked there. I put turned the key to give the truck power, but not start it fully. I got out and shut the driver side door while using the back tire to get into the bed of my vehicle. The first thing I did was go to the toolbox towards the back window and flip the two sides to reveal speakers, then I slid open the middle drawer and docked my phone on the stand. After doing this, I opened the middle compartment between the two speakers to show a bigger screen that resembled my lock screen on the mobile.

"WOAH! You didn't tell me your truck could do this!" Briana exclaimed.

"Huh, thought I did. Yeah, I converted the back toolbox into a DJ stand," I shrugged while pulling up the music application and pulling up a random mix, which was mainly country music. I climbed out the back, jumped to the ground before pulling down the tailgate, and then I leaned against the side. Not long after I set all that up, everyone was back to having fun, except me. I was watching and smiling but otherwise, I just stood there near my truck. I wasn't sure if this was going to be the rest of the night, right now it was only 4 pm and it seemed dad was firing up the grill to do burgers and hot dogs. I could feel Glenn and Aaron watching me intently, I hate it though.

"Excuse me?" said a younger voice from behind me. I turned and saw a teenage girl with black hair and gray-blue eyes. "I-Is Nathaniel here?" she asked. I blinked a bit but faced her.

"Um, yeah. Who are you, if I may ask?" I inquired.

"Oh, I'm Emily, a classmate of Nate's. H-He told me to come over for his party," the teenager, Emily replied nervously.

"I'm Harrison, Nate's older brother. Come on inside, I'll take you to him," I smiled to her as she nodded with a small smile while I led her in past my truck. "There he is, by the porch," I pointed to Nate for her.

"Thank you!" Emily smiled happily as she jogged over. "Nate!"

"Emily!" Nate said shocked but with a broad smile as Nate hugged her tightly. "I'm so glad you could come!" I watch the two interact and I saw that there was an obvious crush between them but neither of them were going to make a move to let the other one know how they felt. It was cute honestly, seeing my little brother so happy but nervous. Gods, he really did remind me of myself when I was his age. "How long are you allowed to stay?" I listened to Nate ask.

"Dad said until 7:30 pm, and then he'll swing by to pick me up. Last time I saw you was before the school year ended, are you okay? You didn't look so good," Emily stated to Nate. It made me wonder if anyone from the school knew that Nate had cancer, obviously, the teachers did, but none of the students? I guess Mom and Dad wanted to keep it on the down low.

"I'll tell you everything, but you have to promise to keep it a secret from everyone else," Nate told her as Emily nodded and then I watched as Nate revealed to Emily all about his cancer from the moment he was diagnosed to when I donated bone marrow to him. I watched Emily get scared, nervous, and worried for Nate, then relieved knowing his cancer was in remission now. It took a good fifteen minutes for Nate to explain to Emily everything, afterward, the two were just talking about whatever over a cup on punch. However, I did noticed something odd. During the pause of a song change, I heard Toothless and Nightstar whimpering in their stables around the side of the house. I got in the back of my truck and paused the music as everyone looked at me funny.

"What's wrong, son?" my father asked. I got out of the truck and moved to the stables to see Toothless and Nightstar trying to get out frantically.

"What is it, Toothless?" I asked him as I unlatched the gate and released him and then Nightstar afterward. That's when I noticed the babies were gone. "Bri, the kids are missing!" I called to her. I saw everyone look at me weird again. "For the love of-I meant the baby dragons!" I informed and watched everyone relax a little.

"How are we going to find them?" Briana asked me.

"I think I might know something that will work. Mind your ears, Love," I warned as she nodded and stepped back a few feet. "Toothless. Nightstar. Let's go," I instructed calmly. The two Night Furies nodded while standing on either side of me. I cupped my hands over my mouth as the dragons and I took in a deep breath and roared out. It took a moment or two, but two Night Furies flew in.

"Well, there's Luna and Stormsky," Briana stated. "So, where's Streamwing?" she asked.

"He isn't far, probably hiding because-," I stopped short when Emily screamed and hid behind Nate quickly when there was a dark gray Night Fury with dark blue eyes standing on all fours before them. "I stand corrected," I sighed.

"Harrison? What do I do?" Nate asked as calmly as he could manage. Anyone else who tried to get close only got growled at, plus Streamwing wasn't listening to his parents to stop either.

"Alright, just…relax, Nate. I think he's just…curious about you because the others have met him before when you were in the hospital," I told him. "Emily, come back this way," I said as Emily slowly stepped backwards towards me and Toothless. Streamwing started sniffing around Nate and nudging him a bit. I was beginning to see what was happening, but I couldn't be sure. Finally, Streamwing sat down on his hind legs in front of Nate as the two seemed to stare at one another intently. I watched Nate take a step forward calmly, the eye connection never breaking.

"It's okay, I won't hurt you. I'm a friend," Nate said instinctively. I smiled proudly; I got it now. Streamwing and Nate were bonding! Streamwing leaned forward as Nate did the same and then, it happened. Nate's and Streamwing's eyes closed as their foreheads pressed together for only a moment. Afterwards, Streamwing warbled contently and licked Nate's cheek repetitively.

"I don't understand what just happened," Viviana stated.

"Nate and Streamwing bonded, Mom. It's different for every human and dragon," I explained with a smile. Not more than a second after that happened, Luna made her way over to Emily and sniffed at her hand curiously. I watched as Luna just got right in and nuzzled against Emily's cheek gently, warbling with affection for the teenage female. "And she's trying to bond to you. Go ahead and touch her, she won't hurt you, I promise," I said. Emily calmly lifted her hand and rubbed the side of Luna's face, then scratched under her chin. Luna licked Emily's cheek and nuzzled again with closed eyes this time.

"Wow, it's amazing. But I thought kids couldn't have dragons of their own?" Emily asked.

"You can't train or ride, but you can own them. Now, your dragon, Emily is a female Night Fury named Luna and she's going to be a year old December 28th, 2016. Nate, that guy right there with you is Streamwing and has same birthday because Luna and him are sibling. This is their brother, Stormsky. All three are Toothless's and Nightstar's offspring," Briana stated gently.

"But I thought they couldn't be trained until they were six or separated from their families until eight-years-old?" Nate asked.

"Unless they bond on their own. Nate, having Streamwing works the same as you having Sharpshot. You own him, but all you can do until you're sixteen is stable work and feedings. After that, you can go out for a Junior Trainer & Rider Permit. That will allow you to train and ride to a certain degree. Once you're eighteen, you can go for the Ownership License; that lets you train, ride, and own Streamwing. Same for you, Emily. It works out because these two aren't legally eligible to begin any of that until they are at least three, that's the absolute minimum age for training," I explained now.

"Oh!" Emily and Nate said together, now understanding.

"Yep, and since they are brother and sister; you should know they love to play together so I guess you two should hang out more, try to keep the family somewhat together," I hinted knowing Nate would catch on to me saying that he and Emily would have more time to get better acquainted. I saw him understand that I was trying to help him out and he mouthed a thank you to me. Well, this did turn out to be an interesting party thus far.

[7 pm]

Everyone had eaten dinner and was relaxing outside around the fire even though it was still daylight out, it didn't get dark until 8 pm or so in the Summer time. The music was still going, I just turned it down a bit so we didn't bother the neighbors. Nate and Emily were sitting on the ground against their newly bonded dragons, talking about the upcoming school year and how amazing it would be for them to be in the 6th grade and already have bonded dragons.

"This is nice," Briana sighed out as she was sitting in my lap and leaning on my chest.

"I agree, nice to have everyone back together," Addilyn agreed with a nod from Regina and Hailey. The music suddenly stopped and turned to ringing. I glanced at the truck and had Briana get off me as I moved into the back of the truck and grabbed my phone off the dock, then answered it without checking the Caller ID first.

"Hello?" I asked. I found out quickly who it was, one of the leading officers of Fort Fury. I was positive his name was Colonel Cody Dawson, if memory served at least. I only met the guy once or twice. I listened to him explain the situation and I swear all I could do was sigh heavily and close my eyes. Finally, I sighed again, defeated knowing that I didn't have a choice. "I understand," I replied. "I'll just take Toothless, he's faster than your planes, sir. Have a good night, Colonel," after that, I hung up.

"Haddock?" Trevor remarked.

"What's going on, man? That didn't look like a good call," Syrus asked.

"I can't…tell you," I looked up as a dragon hovered over the yard and I saw a soldier on it's back. The woman had her dragon set down a large package of stuff. "Thanks, Corporal Miller!" I said, the woman gave me a salute and headed off. I opened the package to four ACU's, two vests, a helmet with day and night goggles on it, two pairs of boots, few under shirts and then finally, my guns and some ammo. I grabbed my clothes first, then went inside and came back out ten minutes later with my long bag, packing the rest of the gear up except the weapons.

"Harrison! There has to be something you can tell us about all this? It's…almost 7:15 at night and you're…well, it looks like you're going to war," Vivian said quickly. I secured my handgun to my hip with the safety on, then placed the strap of my rifle over my shoulder, safety on that too. I put my hat over my head and then whistled for Toothless.

"Bri, you gonna be good flying back to the US on Friday with Nightstar and Stormsky?" I asked her.

"I will be. How long this time?" Briana asked softly.

"I don't know, soon as I know more, I'll let you know," I stated while climbing onto Toothless's back, then grabbing my bag.

"Harry…Where are you going, please tell us?" Nate asked now coming to Toothless's left side.

"I can't tell you, kiddo. I'm sorry. I have rules to follow, orders to carry out, and missions to run," I told him.

"A-Are you going to be safe?" Nate asked looking down.

"I can't promise that," I told him. "All I can promise is that all of you will be safe, and that's all the matters to me. I gotta go, I'll try to keep in contact as much as I can," I ruffled his hair as he nodded and stepped back. Briana came over and kissed me. "Love you,"

"Love you too," Briana smiled.

"Love all you guys too and I swear that as soon as can say something about all this, I will," I told them before patting Toothless's neck. "Let's go, bud!" I called. Toothless launched into the sky, whipped around and headed East. I was tired of keeping secrets from them, but I didn't have a choice in the matter. All I knew right now, my vacation is over and I'm headed back to Afghanistan.