Five Months Later...
Ever Since Elias was brought back to life by Aurora's Crown, the Fiersome Family had gotten more livelier. Elias had gotten a dragon of his own... ironically it was a Monstrous Nightmare... the same dragon that killed him during a dragon raid. At first, Edgar, Henna and Zenna didn't want him to have it but Aurora suggested giving Elias Flare, her Monstrous Nightmare friend, as his dragon.
Edgar, Henna and Zenna know Flare well and decided the dragon would be good for Elias.
Elias was amazed to see the full Fury Family all together, having thought Toothless and Stryka were the only ones left. Nevertheless, he was happy to see the dragons' population growing cause Midnight, Luna, Eclipse and Moon.
El was growing more and more over the past five months. Elias and Aurora were happy to see the little boy growing up so fast.
Now, the duo were going towards their house together after Elias helped Aurora with some her duties as Queen.
"Porridge bomb! Duck and cover!"
Elias Fiersome, Zenna's 20 year old brother and Aurora, the Queen of All Dragons, had just entered their house when they were suddenly tackled to the ground by their sister. One-eyed Zenna Fiersome got to the two just in time as a huge glob of gooey porridge splattered onto a nearby wall.
A little dazed, Elias and Aurora sat up along with Zenna and noticed that the young Fiersome woman's face was speckled with dried oat porridge. Even her eye patch had a splatter of the stuff.
A frustrated gurgle directed their attention to seven-month-old Elias II Stoick Fiersome trying to shovel porridge into his mouth. But the little one's locomotive skills hadn't fully developed yet and, whenever he managed to get his little spoon filled with oats, he couldn't properly maneuver his food into his mouth so most of it ended up either on the floor, the walls…or on the faces of his family.
Elias and Aurora chuckled as Zenna took a small towel out of her pocket to wipe her face clean. In the meantime, El was whining and gurgling unhappily as he made another failed attempt to eat on his own, the spoon eventually slipping out of his hand and clattering onto the floor.
"He insists on feeding himself…Stubborn lad, he is," Edgar chuckled as Henna got another spoon and tried to feed El herself only for the baby boy to fuss and try grabbing the spoon from her.
"Now, see here, young man, if this charade keeps up then there will be no porridge left," Henna chided as she tried to keep her son from grabbing the spoon.
Zenna shook her head in amusement as she watched El make a frantic grab for the spoon.
"Honestly, he just wants to do things on his own so fast…I kind of wish he'd stay dependent for a little while longer…I'd really want to keep babying him until he can no longer be babied…" she said wistfully.
"Well, Zenna, he's going to grow up eventually," Elias pointed out before El began to wail as his Mama refused to give him the spoon.
"Oh for Thor's sake…" Henna said exasperatedly while Edgar sighed and proceeded to try clean up some of the mess El made. It was not going to be an easy task. There were gobs of porridge everywhere!
Eret then walked up to her. "Mind if I try feeding him, Mom?" Henna looked at El for a moment and then sighed. "Alright, Elias, you can try. I am honestly out of ideas…" she said, handing Elias the spoon.
Holding the spoonful of porridge in his hand, Elias brought his face closer to El. The baby boy ceased his wailing and looked at his big brother with big, teary violet eyes.
"Hey, El…I know you want to try eating on your own but you're making a bit of a mess. So, I'm going to feed you now and don't try grabbing the spoon from me, okay?" Elias said slowly and softly. El sniffled and nodded. Without resistance, he allowed his big brother Elias feed him. Zenna felt her heart melt as she, Aurora and her parents watched. El eagerly ate every mouthful of porridge Elias fed him, the young man smiling gently as he stopped every now and then to clean off little blobs of porridge that dribbled down the toddler's chin.
A few minutes later, there was only one spoonful left in the bowl. That's when Elias let El hold the spoon and, with a gentle but firm grip on the baby's wrist, helped him bring the food into his mouth.
El let out a happy squeal, realizing that he had finally successfully eaten a spoonful of porridge while holding the spoon! "That's a good start, El. Soon you'll be able to eat on your own. It's all in the wrist," he grinned, guiding El into flicking his wrist. El giggled and smiled, showing his full set of baby teeth.
Henna sighed gratefully and proceeded to burp El and change his diaper.
"Operation: Feed the Baby is complete! Now…onto Operation: Clean Big Oatmeal Disaster..." Zenna said, looking around the house.
True enough, El's insistence on feeding himself had resulted in the whole Fiersome family kitchen being covered in sticky oatmeal.
Stryka, Zenna's one-eyed Night Fury, and Medic, Zenna's lavender Terrible Terror, were now inside the house and assisting Edgar in cleaning up by licking the oatmeal splattered floor. Pouncer, Dart, Moon, Luna, Eclipse, Crystal, Snowheart, Winter, Midnight and Snow helped the family too... but eating the porridge. Ruffrunner, as usual, slept through the whole thing.
"How much oatmeal do your parents feed El every day, sis?" Elias asked, now noticing that El's empty oatmeal bowl was bigger than any bowl he had ever seen.
"A lot. And El practically eats it by the bucketful. I think he got Dad's appetite," Zenna replied.
"Are you calling me a pig, love?" Edgar asked, pretending to be hurt.
"Of course not, Dad. I'm just saying that you and El have really big appetites," Zenna giggled. Edgar pouted at the two siblings as they chuckled at their joke.
Two Months Later...
Serpent and Serpentine both cooed as Elias II Stoick Fiersome waved his little arms up at them, asking for permission to pet the Zippleback. Edgar and Henna both smiled as their son was granted permission to pet Serpent and Serpentine. Zenna, El's older sister, was watching her baby brother happily crawl all over Stryka while squealing happily.
"Odin's beard, he's getting big…" Edgar chuckled as he watched El blow a raspberry at Stryka.
"He is, isn't he, love? It won't be long until he's old enough to have his own dragon," Henna smiled.
"It'll be so cool.." Elias added with a big grin.
"And you two are going to be…Holy Shields, you guys are going to be so old," Zenna joked while Stryka made a funny face at El who giggled adorably.
Edgar laughed at his daughter's tease. "Aye, old age is the enemy of any strong man," he said jovially.
"Well, at least we have a daughter who is a doctor to care for us in our old age even when she's married," Henna smiled.
"Now that's a job I can handle," Zenna grinned before Serpent and Serpentine warbled excitedly. "Or maybe Aurora's crown can stop people from aging?"
"I-I don't think it can do that.." Aurora replied with a small teasing grin.
The family looked in time to see El stand up. "Well would you look at that!" Edgar grinned.
El giggled, liking this new standing up position.
He could see more things now and he felt taller! And, at that moment, Hiccup and Toothless both happened to pass by. El cooed as the Chief and the his best dragon friend passed by at a considerably far distance, their backs facing him as they went off to do some joint-chiefing together.
Next to his Uncle Eret Viggo and big brother Elias, El absolutely adored his Uncle Hiccup! Whenever he was around, Uncle Hiccup always had a cool new invention or toy for him to tinker and play with. And, in fact, Zenna, her family and all of the other Riders theorized that El may have inherited Hiccup's intelligence as the little boy was already capable of doing things highly advance for his age.
At three months, El already knew how to answer simple arithmetic questions by using his fingers to give out the numbers.
At six months, he was already learning how to read silently and could already scribble down the Runic Alphabet. And at nine months, El had discovered the joys of drawing when Hiccup gave him one of his blank journals and a box of crayons and showed him how to draw Toothless and Stryka.
Needless to say, El loved Uncle Hiccup and Uncle Hiccup loved him right back.
Wanting to have his Uncle Hiccup and Toothless join him in playtime, El lifted one little foot up into the air…and took a single step.
Zenna's eye nearly popped out of its socket while Edgar and Henna's mouths dropped open. Stryka and Serpent and Serpentine crooned encouragingly as El took another step.
"Those are his first steps…" Henna murmured, looking at her equally gobsmacked husband. Then Zenna shouted, "HOLY SHIELDS, EL'S TAKING HIS FIRST STEPS!" in the loudest and most excited tone ever. Aurora squealed happily while Elias smirked at the boy.
"Hiccup! Chief, turn around!" Edgar yelled, excited as well, as El began to waddle towards the young man.
Hearing Edgar's yells, Hiccup turned around. His emerald green eyes widened at the sight of El, his sweet and adorable nephew, wobbling on over to him on his little chubby legs. El was laughing happily, keeping both arms out at his sides to aid his balance, as his steps became steadier and he took his first long walk.
"El?" Hiccup blinked at the little baby boy in surprise.
"Let him come to you, Chief!" Edgar and Henna told him, the two of them grinning widely. Zenna was practically bouncing about with glee. "Those are his first steps, Hicc! El's first steps!" she squealed in excitement.
Now Hiccup got really excited and began to bounce on his toes as El slowly made progress. The dragons were now roaring excitedly as they watched the little Fiersome hatchling walk for the first time.
"Go, El! Go, go, go!" "That's it, son! You can do it!" "Go, little bro, go!" Henna, Edgar and Zenna cheered their little baby boy on. El cooed happily as he neared his goal.
"That's it, El! Come on, buddy! Come to Uncle Hiccup!" Hiccup grinned widely as he squatted down on the ground with his arms wide open. With just a few steps left, El was determined to turn his walking into running. With a happy squeal, El sprinted the last few steps right into his Uncle Hiccup's open arms.
"Yay! Yay! Yay! Hip hip hooray!" Aurora, Elias, Edgar and Henna whooped while Zenna did a backflip of sheer joy. Hiccup was all smiles as he lifted El up high, his little nephew shrieking with delight.
"You did it, buddy! I'm so proud of you!" he laughed as Zenna and her parents rushed over to them with similar happy expressions on their faces along with their dragons.
"Not yet talking but you're already walking! El, my boy, you never cease to amaze us!" Edgar laughed as his son gurgled happily and grabbed at his fingers.
"El, you're such a smart little one! You're going to do great things when you grow up, sweetheart…" Henna cooed and gently kissed El's button nose. Zenna then patted her baby brother's soft black curls and whispered, "You are amazing, baby brother…"
El giggled and gave Zenna a raspberry kiss.
Shadow, the Fury Family, Toothless, Stryka and Serpent and Serpentine all cooed and nuzzled little El. Then Hiccup got an idea to let El exercise his newfound walking ability.
Gently setting El down on the ground, Hiccup got Edgar, Henna and Zenna to stand on three different sides forming a square with him on the lower right, Edgar lower left, Henna upper left and Elias and Zenna on the upper right.
Hiccup smiled, patting El's soft black curls, and pointed at Edgar.
"Go on over to your Daddy, buddy," he said to El gently. Giggling, El did as he was told and successfully walked over to his father.
"That's my boy. El, you are incredible, my son. And I'm so proud," Edgar smiled and affectionately rubbed noses with his youngest son. El then walked on over to Henna who gave him a big hug.
"There's my big boy!" Henna smiled softly and gently kissed El's pudgy cheeks.
"That's our baby brother..." Elias added.
Then El looked at Zenna and smiled.
The one-eyed Dragon Doctor had the biggest grin on her face as she knelt down and held out her arms.
"Come on, El! Big sister's here!" she called out encouragingly. El squealed and immediately began to run, his little legs pumping, over to his big sister Zenna.
But, suddenly, El tripped! Dart warbled in concern and quickly placed her tail underneath the little one, catching him. "Good girl Dart.." Aurora praised. Dart warbled and gently pushed El back onto his feet as he giggled.
El just laughed and continued running towards Zenna.
Zenna felt tears of joy and pride well up in her eye as her baby brother practically jumped into her waiting arms. Aurora. Hiccup, Edgar and Henna could only beam with pride as El waved his little arms up at Zenna, who couldn't be more prouder of her baby brother.