Chapter Nine:

I kept a close eye on Snotlout, knowing him he was going to try to steal my leg again. For some reason the twins and Snotlout that it funny when I had to hope around on one leg. Spitelout was currently hovering over him, watching his every move. I also overheard him say something about how Snotlout was grounded. Truth be told, I'm not entirely sure he realized that Snotlout actually enjoys doing the mending, in fact he ran his own little boutique back at the Edge...

A yelp escaped me as my shirt was suddenly yanked off, and a new one that was definitely not one anyone around these parts would wear yanked on. I grabbed the bottom of the shirt, pulling it away from me so that I could see what the new t-shirt had on it. It actually was kind of cool. It was swirled with green tie dye, with a silhouette of a night fury in the middle. The words Whose your Dragon were printed underneath it. "Really Snotlout? What was wrong with my tunic?"

"The fact it was out of fashion and no cousin of mine will be caught in such a thing." Snothlout grinned at me, giving me a look that said it all. He wanted my personal opinion on the shirt... as well as wanted to know exactly how it looked on me. "Hmm, I need to work on the sleeves some more. A bit long for my liking."

I'll consider killing him when I am not currently surrounded by confused family members. "Fine... can I at least have my tunic back?"

Snotlout sighed as he handed over the old fashioned piece of clothing. "Fine! But don't say I didn't warn you."

I bit back a laugh, amusement slipping in as I looked at him. Funny really, five years ago if you told me that I was going to be friends with my own cousin, I would have told you that you were crazy. Now a days though, the idea that I might not be able to spend some time with him was preposterous. Gobber hobbled over to us, eyebrow arched in confusion. "Since when did you two get along?"

"Something about almost bleeding to death in someone's arms being really good for forming tight bonds." Snotlout casually told him.

Upon noticing the panic that briefly flashed in Spitelout's eyes as he quickly scanned Snotlout as if he thought he could find the injury that he spoke of, I cleared my throat nervously. Somehow something told me that with what I was about to say, Dad was never going to let me out of his sight again. "Uh, Spitelout? I was the one that was bleeding out. Snotlout was carrying me. What do you think happened to my leg?"

"What!?" Yep. Dad was so never letting me out of his sight ever again.

Gothi smacked me with her staff, glancing down at my prosthetic leg with disapproval. "It's fine! Honest!"

"Yeah, last time you said you were fine, you passed out in the middle of a very important meeting." Snotlout crossed his arms, a look of disbelief flashing across his features.

"To be fair..."

"You are NOT allowed to point out that you had a poisonous arrow in your arm that you didn't realize was poisonous." Snotlout cut me off exasperation flooding his voice.

"One time!" I cried out indignantly, crossing my arms as I turned to face him.

Cousins, sometimes they can more annoying than they're worth. Hiccup! Hiccup! You have to come see this! Hookfang swooped down next to us, wiggling like an excited dog. I raised an eyebrow at that, before gesturing for him to lead the way. Maybe I should have rethought on what could excite him. Let's just say finding the entire gang tearing apart Johahn's ship more so than it already was. Johahn was a blubbering mess to the gawking Mr. Hofferson. Hiccstrid pushed her dark brown, not quite black, bangs out of her blue eyes, her tiny face scrunched up just slightly. Upon noticing me, she held her small arms up to be picked up, a grin crossing her features. "Daddy!"

I quickly took her from Meatlug, bouncing her on my hip. "Hey Hiccstrid. What's going on here?"

"JOHAHN!" The mere anger in all of their voices was enough to make me grin at them.

I nonchalantly tilted my head towards Snotlout. "Last I checked, I firmly reminded him that I have told him to stay away from Berk if he knew what was good for him... and Snotlout and Horace blew up his ship. You don't need to tear it apart further."

"Where's the fun in that?" Tuffnut huffed, crossing his arms across his chest.

Part of me wondered that too, but I really needed to talk to Astrid about whether she still wanted Eret to officiate our wedding, or will she be okay with Gothi doing it since I had a feeling that all of Berk wanted in on it now that they knew.

"What is going on here!?" Dad finally appeared, bewilderment filling him as he stared at the destruction going on.

Astrid pulled two axes seemingly out of nowhere, really she pulled them out of thin air since that was her power, pointing both of the sharp blades at Johahn. "Ask that traitor." Stormfly must have thought that she meant for her to fire her spikes at him since he was suddenly pinned by her lethal spikes.

I rolled my eyes at their reactions, before walking over to where Briar was peeking out from behind Dad, bending down so that Hiccstrid was about even with her. "Briar, this is Hicstrid. Hiccstrid, this is Briar. She's my sister, like how Aunt Ruff is Uncle Tuff's sister." Better keep things simple for the toddler to understand.

Hiccstrid brightened at that, lifting a chunky hand up to wave at her. "Hi! I'm two!"

Briar hesitated before waving at her. "I'm four."

"You're my friend now. Let's play." Hiccstrid grabbed Briar's hand, wiggling out of my arms to drag her off to who knows where.

Both Dad and Mr. Hofferson frowned at me, most likely because I introduced Hiccstrid to Briar and not to them, her grandfathers, first. Turning to face Johahn, I glared at him, mainly cause I just realized a small fact. For the Hunters to take Briar, with her connection to Dad, and in extension me, would mean that he had a hand in her kidnapping. More specifically... My fist slammed into the wooden post just above his head, a snarl twisting on my features. "Stay away from Berk... that was all you had to do Johahn. Instead, you not only blatantly ignored me, but you asked your men to kidnap Briar in a way that would frame us to trick them into fighting us!"

"I...I...di...di...di...did n.n.n.n.n. such thing!" He stuttered out, the fake denial easily falling from his lips.

Silence fell as we all glowered at him, and all of Berk was now staring at us in confusion about what was going on. Fishlegs cleared his throat, eyes narrowing as he glared at him. "Drago Bludvist didn't listen to Hiccup. He's dead at the bottom of the sea where his bones are resting after being thrown into the sea. His protégé, Grimmel the Grisly, was even crueler than him and wouldn't listen to Hiccup. He is currently dead and rotting in the middle of the ocean. I see a pattern here." Fishlegs crossed his arms, one eyebrow shooting upwards as he stared at the idiotic Hunter. "Your odds don't look too good right about now. Be glad that Hiccstrid is here... she's the only thing keeping you from being killed off right now."

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Guest: Thank you! And I'm working on it!

Toothless Lover 13: *opens and closes mouth multiple times* Uh... I don't remember. I think it was when we thought someone was going to show up? I don't remember. We didn't really write it down or anything.