I…I'm alive? I'm alive!

Sorry I took so long. Been really busy lately and I was struggling with this chapter. I still don't like the ending but oh well. At least you have a chapter.

I do not own How to Train Your Dragon.

Enjoy!

Inside the hall wasn't what she had been expecting. Not that she really knew what she had been expecting. But whatever image her mind had conjured up, this wasn't it.

The hall was a lot warmer than she thought it would be. So far, Berk had proved it wasn't a warm place, but the large fire inside kept the big room heated. There were people everywhere, all dressed in warm clothes and armour. Some had their weapons with them and some didn't.

No one seemed to notice the Hoffersons as they entered the hall, slowly pushing the door open and letting it quietly shut behind them. Astrid quickly spotted her friends sitting at a table in the corner. She looked towards her mother who nodded. She smiled and headed of in the direction of her friends.

Stormfly was the first to see her. She jumped up and gave her a huge hug before letting go and looking her up and down.

"You look amazing," she said with a grin. "You look like some kind of warrior princess or something."

"Um, thanks," Astrid replied unsure. "I think." Stormfly burst out laughing and pulled her friend over to the table. As they sat down Astrid noticed that it was just Stormfly, Toothless and the twins.

"Where are Hiccup, Fishlegs and Snotlout?" she asked.

"They're sitting at the Chief's table," Stormfly replied.

"Really we should be there too," Toothless added. "Our dads are all on the council so they get a special position during feasts along with their families. We should be with them really." Tooth looked towards Storm who rolled her eyes.

"But it's so boring! The men only talk about council stuff and the women talk about life, but they make it sound so dull." She lay her head on the table dramatically. Astrid glanced at the twins who just shrugged and carried on eating. Toothless patted Stormfly's back in a sarcastically sympathetic way.

Astrid turned around to look at the Chief's table. She saw Hiccup sitting beside his father, Fishlegs by his side, staring at whatever liquid sat in his cup. He looked up at his father and said something. Stoick' head dropped slightly and she could see him sigh. Valka placed a hand on his arm, but her back was to Astrid, and so she couldn't see her face. Hiccup looked pleadingly towards his father and eventually Stoick waved him off. Hiccup smiled and nudged Fishlegs and they both stood up. Snotlout moved to follow them but was swiftly pushed back into his chair by his father. He slumped down looking depressed but perked up when Stoic called something down the table to Spitelout and the man said something back. Stoick replied and soon enough Spitelout was waving his son off and the boy was eagerly jumped up out of his chair and joining his cousin and friend as they headed to Astrid's table.

"You're free!" Stormfly exclaimed hugging her brother as he sat down beside her. Fishlegs looked at her with an annoyed expression on his face until she let go.

"Thank goodness I don't have to listen to debates about the new bridge any more," Snotlout said sliding down in his chair with a relaxed look on his face.

"They were discussing the new bridge at that end?" Fishlegs asked with a shocked expression on his face. "Lucky! I was stuck between my mom and Valka talking about needlework techniques!"

All the boy's and Ruffnut's faces paled at the thought while Stormfly burst out laughing and received a glare from her brother.

After that conversation continued as normal. Talk about what they had been doing that day, complaints about their parents, what they had planned for the next day and they asked Astrid a lot of questions about how she was finding Berk and what she thought so far.

"Alright everyone, settle down!" Stoick's voice called out above the noise. Soon the hall was quiet as people waited to see what the Chief was about to say. "Tonight is a special night. Tonight we celebrate the return of the next generation of protectors of this village. We, as parents, hoped that sending them away would help protect them. But we soon found that they are already an invaluable part of Berk. And we couldn't be prouder!" He raised his mug and the hall erupted in cheers before Stoick managed to calm everyone down again. "That is not the only good news. As some of you already know, the Hoffersons have returned to us and with them they bring their beautiful daughter, Astrid. So my friends, welcome home!"

Astrid felt her cheeks burning as people turned to look at her applauding and cheering. She felt Hiccup nudge her in her side and smiled when she saw his grinning face.

Stormfly looked around to Toothless, only to find he wasn't there. She turned around just in time to see the doors the the Great Hall close. She furrowed her brow before quietly slipping away just as he had. She found him sitting outside on the front steps looking up at the sky. She sat down beside him and waited for him to speak. It took a while but eventually she heard him take in a deep breath and sigh.

"You guys all have so much you can offer the village. I…I have nothing. The only thing I've ever been good at was flying. And look at how that turned out. I'm a flightless dragon." He stopped and placed his face in his hands. Stormfly could tell he wasn't finished so she waited patiently for him to continue.

"I love my brother, but if this had happened to him, he would be fine. He's an excellent strategist, he's amazing in the forge and he's training to run the village. What can I do? Apart from flying, nothing."

"Oh come on, Tooth!" Storm replied lightheartedly. "I'm sure there's something else you're good at. You just don't know it yet!"

"That's not all it is though," Toothless said quietly. "I love flying. I don't how I'm going to cope without it."

"You could always ride on my back," Stormfly put in, her cheeks turning red. "I don't mind."

"But it's not the same, is it?" She flinched back slightly from his cringed and sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm not in the best mood at he moment. When we were in the other world, none of you were allowed to fly, which made it a little easier. But since we've been back, I keep seeing people flying around the village, and I can't do that anymore. And it hurts."

"Storm, could you please give us a minute." She turned around to see Hiccup standing behind her with a bundle in his arms wrapped in cloth. She didn't bother asking what it was. She just nodded and walked away.

Hiccup sat down next to his brother on the steps. He lay the bundle behind him and looked up at the stars along with Toothless. Then he looked back down and nudged his brother in the arm.

"How come you aren't inside celebrating?"

"What is there to celebrate? You all get to come back and do things you're good at and you enjoy. I'm good at flying. I love flying. And I can't even do that." He slumped down hoping more than anything that his brother would decide to just leave him alone and not start another bout of encouragement that was not encouraging at all.

"Well, I don't think you need to worry about flying anymore," Hiccup replied. Toothless looked at him with a confused expression on his face.

"So, because I can't fly, I don't need to worry any more?" He felt a little annoyed. Did his brother not realise how hard this was for him?

"That's not what I meant," Hiccup replied shaking his head. "I meant, you don't need to worry about not being able to fly anymore." Before Toothless could reply, Hiccup placed the bundle on his lap. Toothless just stared at it. "Well go on. Open it," Hiccup encouraged.

Toothless narrowed his eyes and began to untie the string that held the cloth together. He stared down at the mechanic contraption in front of him before looking up at his brother in confusion.

"It's a prosthetic tail fin," Hiccup said. "It should imitate you real tail fin. I haven't tested it so I don't know if it works, but it should. I know it's not your real fin and that you want that more than anything. And I know that this is a kind of handicap but hopefully with a bit of practice-" Toothless wrapped his arms around him pulling him into a hug.

"Shut up," he said with a grin. "And thank you." Hiccup smiled hugging his brother back. Then Toothless suddenly pulled away. "Can we try it out now?"

"How about we try it out tomorrow in the daylight? Plus, I don't have my tools on me and there's a whole celebration going on in there. Do you really want to miss that?" Hiccup smiled, gesturing towards the building behind them. Toothless grinned and got up. The two went inside the hall placing the prosthetic on the only empty chair.

"What is that?" Snotlout looked at the contraption beside him with distrust.

"That is hopefully a new tail fin for Toothless," Hiccup replied. Storm's face exploded with happiness as she threw her arms around Toothless causing him to blush madly. She quickly pulled away, her cheeks just as red as his and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

"What do you mean 'hopefully'?" Fisher said shaking his head at his sister.

"It's not been tested yet. But it should work." Hiccup smiled sheepishly.

"I'm sure it will," Toothless added grinning.

I couldn't think of a good way to end it but oh well. One of the only chapters without a cliffie. How did you like the little brother fluff scene? Sorry it's not too long.

Miti-sweets: Thanks! Reviews like that really keep me going. Thanks so much!

Checkingdude: Thanks for the criticism. I really appreciate. My other stories I felt moved a little too quickly so I kind of went the complete other direction with this one. It will pick up more in the next few chapters. I have some big plans for this story, I just wanted to make sure the foundations of the story are laid properly before it really starts to pick up. But thanks.

dracologistmaster: Sorry that there's not a lot of the celebration.

Firstbookworm: I assumed that Hiccup's forge project was kind of predictable but no one seemed to say anything… Thanks!

The SkrillRider: I'm updating! I'm updating! And patience! All is revealed in time.

Dreamydragonrider: Thanks!

Changewing rider: Thanks!

I am Moonsong: Thanks, I will.

Thanks everyone for reviewing! You're all amazing for sticking with me through all the late chapters.

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Until next time!