Alright, here we go again. In case you missed out, this is the third update in as many days. This reminds me of the early days of writing Of the Night, when I'd update as soon as I'd finished the chapter. I'm showing a little more restraint here, trying to get a reaction from you folks, but you're as stoic as... Stoick. :) Anyways, enjoy, and all that.

Thanks to:

Little Did You Know (nine, now ;) )

Kelroe26

Vvarden

Sousuke Tenki

Colinou (yes, I know it's blackmail, but you are all so stubborn)

QuiteARandomFan

canadasam101

The Lightning Phoenix

Mar'i the Nightstar

Spartan10007

Ciara11

CROWDG

and to the anonymous Guest: Patience :) it's barely been 24 hours.

Alright!

Toothless sighed as he waded into the river. His head hurt, an ache that had been plaguing him since the afternoon before. He had spent the entire day in the meadow, where he so often came with his mate to escape the village. Was it irresponsible of him to turn his back on his duty and come here to think? Certainly. Did he care? Not in the slightest. His anger had cooled somewhat, though it still burned hotly compared to his usual laid-back demeanor.

His stomach had begun to rumble a while before, so here he was, half-heartedly swiping at the silvery fish darting along the riverbed. He didn't actually want to eat, but he hadn't consumed anything since yesterday, and he was used to eating twice a day. Although the sun had almost set, the orange glow of the sky provided plenty of light for his activity.

Despite his attempts to suppress them, thoughts of his son continued to creep into his mind. What am I going to do? Maybe he had overreacted just a bit the day before, but for the love of a Changewing, Shade and Aeri had appeared out of nowhere, casually informing the village that an island full of people and dragons was heading their way. How was he supposed to respond to that? After everything his and Hiccup's firstborns had put their families through, vanishing like they had for three years, they thought they could just fly back like nothing had changed?

A frustrated growl escaped him, and angrily he slashed his claws through the water. Rather than catch anything, though, he just ended up splashing himself in the face and sending all the fish swimming for cover.

"You're never going to catch anything that way," a familiar voice said behind him, and grumpily he turned and stomped out of the shallows, blinking water from his eyes and pointedly not looking at his mate.

Lightning did her best to suppress a giggle at Toothless's forbidding expression. Speaking with her eldest hatchling for the first time in three years had left her feeling rather upbeat, though she knew her mate wouldn't appreciate her saying so. As they had raced back to the village earlier that evening, Shade had easily overtaken her, and had even gone so far as to fly in a circle around her before positioning himself to her right, where he lazily teased her about how slow she was. Lightning knew she was fast, after all, she had a young hatchling to keep up with, but her oldest was in his prime, and probably could have made it back in half the time if he'd wanted to. The memory of it made her smile.

"What are you smiling about?"

Shaken from her thoughts, Lightning was reminded of her purpose in coming here. Immediately she erased the grin from her face, but Toothless was, as always, smarter than she liked to give him credit for.

"What are you thinking? Did we have a good day today?" he continued, dropping to the ground and crossing his forelegs.

"I'm just thinking of how much I love you, even though you're hopeless at fishing."

He snorted, but his suspicion seemed to have abated. "I'm sure."

"True story." Lightning walked over to him, settling down next to him and nuzzling his neck.

"I'm not really in the mood, believe it or not," Toothless grumbled.

A surprised laugh escaped her. "I don't believe you in the slightest. But I'll play along. What's on your mind?"

"Ugh. You know exactly what's bothering me."

"That may be true, but what I don't quite understand is why it's bothering you."

"Are you kidding me? Your son, Mr. Irresponsible, is back, and now Hiccup is stuck cleaning up the mess he's brought with him!"

"My son? I believe you played an equal part in the creation of our hatchling, Toothless," she pointed out, and he growled at her, pushing himself to his feet to pace.

"Debatable."

"Debat— I'd give you the benefit of the doubt, but there are four other black-scaled pieces of evidence that say you rather enjoy the benefits of our relationship."

He snorted again.

"Don't snort at me, Mister. You're lucky I use my powers for good."

"Powers? What powers?" he stopped pacing, peering at her.

"You can't resist me, and you know it."

"Oh yes I can!" he retorted indignantly.

Lightning waved a paw in the air. "I'd love to prove you wrong, but it has occurred to me to tell you that Hiccup isn't bothered in the slightest by the so-called mess that Shade has brought with him."

Toothless's eyes narrowed. "And how would you know this?"

"Because while you were busy sulking over here, I was with the human Chief, helping him out."

"Sulk— now wait just a minute!"

She wouldn't wait. "I'd say that he would gladly clean up a thousand of his daughter's "messes" before he'd get angry now."

"What are you really saying?"

"I'm saying, love, that your anger has gotten the best of you, and—"

"Don't "love" me!" he shouted irrationally.

"I'll call you whatever I want! Love, love, love!" she yelled back.

"No you won't! I am the Alpha, and I would be treated as such!" he roared. Toothless vaguely realized he had gone too far when he saw her blue eyes flash, but he was too frustrated to care at the moment.

In an instant she leapt at him, and after a brief struggle Toothless found himself pinned beneath his smaller, much more irritated mate.

"I don't like your attitude," she hissed at him. He started to protest, but she cut him off with a withering look. "And before you dig yourself even deeper, let me just say this. I love you, and I respect you. Your son loves you, and respects you. While I imagine you will be treating him poorly until you feel redeemed, you should consider that I will not tolerate being treated as a target for your irrational anger."

Toothless opened his mouth to reply, then thought better of it. "I'm sorry," he offered.

"I should certainly hope so. What else?"

He thought about it. He was not in the mood to talk about his son. As it happened, a different mood entirely was beginning to take hold.

"You were right," he said.

"About what?"

"You being completely irresistible."

"Nice try."

"But actually."

She looked down at him, allowing her scowl to ease. After all, she found her mate equally irresistible, although she'd never tell him that in a million years. He must have seen a change in her eyes, because a devilish grin crept onto his face, and he easily rolled her onto her back, switching their positions.

"Here's what I think…" Toothless leaned down to whisper his thoughts in her ear, and her face immediately heated up.

She smiled lazily. "What are you waiting for, then?"

Earlier that evening, Aeri slid from Shade's saddle, laughing. "Excellent work, bud!" A moment later, her father and Lightning touched down behind them. They were outside of Valka's house, where Shade was planning on eating dinner with Cloudjumper.

Hiccup hopped from Lightning's shoulders and scratched behind her ear in appreciation before walking over to where his daughter stood with her dragon. "Thor's hammer, Shade, you've gotten fast. I don't know if I'm going to be able to allow you to race!"

The Night Fury offered him a cheeky grin, then walked over to nuzzle his mother, who looked pleasantly surprised at the affection. Hiccup and Aeri watched them fondly, the Chief putting his arm around his daughter's shoulders and giving her a brief squeeze. "You ready?" he asked her.

Her smile didn't waver. "Should I change out of my armor first?"

"I rather like it," Hiccup confessed, taking a step back to look her from head to toe. "You can tell us more about it at dinner, that is, if you want to."

"I guess I can do that. Let me take Shade's saddle off…"

While she took care of that, Lightning came forward and nuzzled Hiccup.

"Where are you headed, girl? Off to find Toothless?" She nodded, rolling her eyes, and Hiccup laughed. "Maybe you can persuade him to come home, hmm?" The female Night Fury licked his face, before taking off in the direction of the meadow.

With an expression of mock disgust, Hiccup tried and failed to wipe the dragon saliva off, the hair on the left side of his head standing straight up. Aeri turned and laughed out loud at the sight, waving farewell to Shade. "I'll see you later tonight, bud. Wish me luck, will ya?"

The black dragon bumped her with his nose, rumbling in his chest. A familiar sounding screech caused all three of them to turn in time to witness the arrival of four smaller Night Furies. Shade warbled a greeting to them, immediately bounding over to playfully nudge each of his sisters, then lowering himself to the ground so that Soren could climb onto his neck. Aeri grinned, leaving her father's side to approach the chattering dragons.

"Hi there," she said softly, reaching out to Soren, who peered at her shyly. "It's okay, I'm a friend." The small hatchling leaned forward to sniff her hand, green eyes trained on her face. His gaze flickered over to Hiccup, then back to Aeri, seemingly making the connection. Finally he licked her hand, offering her a toothless smile.

Aeri held out her hands and the little dragon gathered himself, before hopping into her arms.

"Oof!" she uttered theatrically, her body curving to accommodate the extra weight of the squirming hatchling. "Hold still, big guy!"

Hiccup came up behind her, resting one hand lightly on her shoulder. "His name is Soren."

"Soren," she tried it out. "Soren. I like it!"

Soren wiggled happily at the sound of his name, trying to climb up her torso to sniff her hair and lick her face. "Hold… still!" He seemed about to slip free of her grip when Shade stepped forward, deftly scooping up the hatchling with the top of his head and stepping back to allow Aeri to wipe the saliva off her face.

"Well, he's a handful, isn't he?"

"Not unlike every other baby on the island. Although Kai is actually rather well behaved. Hopefully they will balance each other out," Hiccup laughed.

"Kai… is that my brother?" Aeri asked.

Hiccup sobered at her tone. "That would be your baby brother. Why don't we go up and meet him? You can help your mother feed him. I just said he was well behaved, but during meals… well, I'll give you a cloth."

Aeri smiled. "Okay." Turning towards the gathered Night Furies, she said, "It was good to see you, and nice to meet you, Soren. Have a good dinner, Shade." With one last wave, she began the walk up the hill next to her father, battling the sudden anxiety she was feeling. With each step her nervousness grew, until her heart was pounding in her chest.

"What's the matter?" her father asked quietly.

For a moment, she debated telling him, then decided she might as well. "You and Grandma have been very accepting of me, but I'm not so sure anyone else will be."

"You mean your mother, and your siblings."

"Yes."

"Well, I can't speak for any of them, but if I had to hazard a guess, I'd say Alyka will be the problematic one."

An image of her younger, blonde, fiery sister appeared in her mind. "You're probably right."

"Don't worry. If she's anything like your mother, which I'm relatively certain she is, she can be reasoned with. That, or you could just fight it out. You know, axe to axe."

"Not helpful, Dad."

"Sorry."

Aeri took a deep breath. They were approaching the house now, the house she had grown up in. It was even bigger than she remembered, as an addition seemed to have been made onto the back. When they reached the stairs, her father went ahead of her and pulled on the door, holding it open for her to enter first. With trepidation, she stepped over the threshold.

It was just as she had remembered, warm and inviting. The smell of whatever was cooking over the fire pit filled the air, and her mouth watered. There was the weapons rack, displaying the usual assortment of dangerous implements, the large table where they had gathered several times a week for meals, to have family time apart from the bustle of the Great Hall. As she moved farther into the room, the fire came into full view, and there was her grandmother, drinking from a mug of something steaming.

"Well, hello!"

"Hi, Mom," Hiccup answered, stepping around Aeri and walking over to join her. "What are you drinking?"

A slight creak sounded, and Aeri quickly looked up to the top of the stairs, where she saw her brother hunched over, watching her. Her heart beat hard, and uncertainly, she waited for him to make the first move. Finally, he unfolded his lanky body and descended the steps, his gaze never once leaving her face. His expression was guarded, but his blue eyes were as inquisitive as ever. In his hand, as always, there was a book, though Aeri couldn't make out the title. When he stood before her, she found herself looking up. He must have grown a foot since she'd last seen him. Then he spoke.

"You're shorter than I remember." His voice had matured, deepened. With some surprise she realized that he had a slight shadow of stubble on his face.

"And you're hairier."

He laughed, finally breaking the tension. "I guess I am." He ran a hand over his jaw, then through his shaggy dark hair. "Glad to see yours has grown back." Reaching out, he tugged on the end of one of the small braids woven into her mane of auburn hair.

Aeri had almost completely forgotten about that night, when she had chopped her hair off. Instinctively, her hand flew up to push his away, but she stopped herself. Noticing this, the corners of his eyes crinkled with amusement, and he opened his arms. Gratefully she stepped into them, her face pressed against his shoulder.

"Missed you, Erik."

"I missed you too, Aeri. And I'm glad you're back."

"You're just glad you don't have to be Chief after all," she laughed, and he nodded.

"You got that right."

"Aeri?"

Both she and Erik turned to see their mother, carrying the baby, step out of her bedroom at the back of the house. Hiccup stood and gave his wife a kiss as she passed, but Astrid was known for her determination, and she strode up to her children, her face unreadable.

"Erik, will you take Kai, please?"

Without replying, the tall young man reached out and snagged his brother, who was watching the scene with wide eyes. "Come on, Kai. Let's go see Gramma." He walked away, offering his sister a small encouraging smile.

Resisting the urge to gulp nervously, Aeri met her mother's intense blue gaze. The blonde woman was a few inches shorter than her, but more than made up for it with her presence. Astrid looked her from head to toe, seemingly evaluating her. Finally she spoke.

"You know, I always wondered what I would say to you if I had the chance. And I always ended up angry with myself, because I felt that I would never have the opportunity again to tell you what was on my mind. And now you're here, and it would appear that I will have any number of opportunities to tell you what I'm thinking from now on. But… I will only have this chance once. So, I'm sorry, Aeri, for being part of the reason you felt you had to leave. I hope that in the future, you won't see me as the enemy, but someone you can trust to be on your side. I'm your mother, not a Berserker, so hopefully that works in my favor."

Aeri knew that it must have taken her mom a great deal of effort to arrive at a place where she could speak to her without shouting. She also knew that this was her mother's way of telling her that she had been missed.

"I… I missed you, Mom." Aeri said quietly.

Astrid's eyes widened slightly, but she couldn't help the smile that crept onto her face. "My baby girl is finally home."

"Not such a baby anymore, hmm?"

"You'll always be my baby, Aeri," Astrid replied, reaching out to place a hand on her daughter's shoulder. "Come on. You can help me feed Kai."

"I'd love to."

They walked over to where Erik sat at the table, bouncing his giggling little brother on his knee. Aeri slid onto the bench next to him, holding out her arms. "Can I see him?"

"Of course. Kai, this is Aeri, your sister. Say it. Air-ee."

Kai looked at her with some confusion, but played along, grinning to reveal tiny white teeth. "Awi?"

"Good enough," Erik said, passing their brother off to Aeri. She took a good look at him. It was sort of hard to tell in the firelight, but she suspected his hair was quite red. She couldn't tell what color his eyes were. Green? Grey? Blue? She'd have to ask her mother later where these traits had come from.

"Hi Kai."

"Kai! Kai! Kai!" the toddler shouted.

"Yes, that's your name."

"Up!" he cried.

"Up?"

"Up!" He began waving his arms wildly.

"No, Kai, not right now," Astrid cut in, and immediately he ceased his wiggling. Their mother set a bowl of something that smelled delicious in front of them, dropped a spoon next to it, then proceeded to drape a number of cloths over Aeri.

"Uh, Mom? Why am I covered in rags?" she asked, trying to hold Kai still as he squirmed and reached for the spoon.

"Trust me. You'll be thankful for them later."

"That would be my cue to get out of range…" Erik winked at Aeri, then scooted down the bench.

Aeri was overtaken by the sort of apprehension that one feels when they have reached the point of no return. Slowly she reached out and moved the spoon closer to Kai's grasping fingers. He snatched it up, waving it about. With a silent prayer to the gods, she pulled the bowl within range of the toddler's motions.

It started off well enough. He took a generous spoonful, which proceeded to drip alarmingly as he unsteadily brought it to his mouth. But there were enough cloths to catch the drips, so Aeri's confidence slowly increased. The entire time, Kai was babbling about something no one could even begin to comprehend, and after the first few swipes Aeri gave up on wiping the extra food off his face.

Then, with surprising agility, things went downhill from there. Kai flung the spoon onto the ground, which wasn't the end of the world, right? Aeri held him steady while she leaned down to pick it up, not noticing the sudden quiet of the room. When she sat back upright, she realized two things. The first being that every pair of eyes in the room was trained (in a horrified sort of way) on the small person in her lap, and the second being that the small person in her lap had grabbed hold of the entire bowl and was lifting it into the air.

"Kai?" Aeri said softly, not daring to move.

The toddler turned his head just enough so that she could see the mischievous grin on his face. "Ya?"

"Please put that down." She kept her voice low and soothing.

"Down?"

"Yes, down—"

Just then the front door burst open, revealing the other two members of the Haddock family. Wren's gaze immediately took in the impending disaster, and the fact that it was her long lost sister at the epicenter, and her eyes widened. Alyka, on the other hand, was less than pleased. "What is she doing here?" she snapped.

Both Hiccup and Astrid started, without making sudden movements. "Hey, now—" "That's no way to speak to your sister."

"She's not my sister!" With that she threw down the saddle she was holding, snatched up her axe, and ran, slamming the door shut behind her. Everyone winced, glancing to gauge Aeri's reaction.

"It's okay," she said softly. "Nothing I wasn't expecting… Now, Kai, please put that—"

"Down!"

Later, when the mess was cleaned up, and most of the food was out of Aeri's hair, she was able to embrace Wren, who had grown substantially over the past few years. Now eight years old, her long, dark brown hair was loose, cascading over her shoulders. Her eyes were the exact same shade of green as Aeri's, and Hiccup's. She had the same quiet aura around her that Erik did, a sense of thoughtfulness and individuality that separated her from the usual crowd of Vikings her age.

For her part, Wren was pleased that her sister had returned. She had already gauged from Skali earlier that her Night Fury best friend was happy to have her older brother back, which on its own would have been enough to convince Wren that Aeri and Shade's return was a good thing. Aeri, although she seemed inherently different than when she had left, was still a warm presence, in the sense that Wren felt she could trust her oldest sister. Long story short, she held no grudge, and had no problem welcoming Aeri back into the fold.

As they ate dinner, they kept conversation light, asking Aeri about her armor and whether or not she had encountered any new types of dragons, both of which were topics that kept them busy though their entire meal. Afterwards, they all helped clean up. Quietly, Erik asked his parents if he could go find Alyka, which they agreed to with short nods.

"Be right back," he called out, before leaving through the front door.

Aeri was busy playing with a rapidly tiring Kai and chatting with Wren, so she simply waved. The rest of the evening passed pleasantly, and as Aeri prepared for bed that night, she hoped that Shade, who had not yet returned, had also had a nice dinner, and perhaps a reunion or two with some of the other dragons.

Shade had eaten with his siblings and Cloudjumper at the feeding station. The other dragons had given them plenty of room, but that didn't stop them from watching curiously. Several had boldly greeted him, including Meatlug and Stormfly, although the Nadder seemed slightly hesitant to be seen with him, as if the Alpha might pop out of nowhere and disapprove.

Afterwards, the Night Furies all went for a flight around the island to watch the setting sun, Soren riding on Shade's shoulders. They landed by the shelter at the top of the hill, where Shade had grown up, but he had no interest in going inside. Instead, he bid them goodnight, before taking off on his own to think.

Now he was in the cove again, but not alone.

"Shade."

Shade turned to see another Night Fury standing behind him.

"Hello, Ash."

"How- how are you doing?" she stepped forward, looking uncertain.

"As well as I could be, I suppose. Uh, how are you?" Shade was mildly confused as to why she had followed him here, but he refused to think anything of it, the walls around his heart firmly intact.

"Oh, probably the same, I suppose. Do you mind that I'm here?"

"No?" and, not knowing what else to say, he turned back to the water, taking a drink.

"I…" she seemed to be at a loss for words, but Shade had no interest in making the interaction easier for her.

"Yes?"

"I'm glad you're back." The words seemed to be forced out, as though part of her didn't want to say them. Shade had gotten very good at suppressing his feelings, so he wasn't bothered by her hesitance. He debated on how to respond, before deciding that he had nothing to say.

When he didn't answer, Ash stepped forward again, looking at his back as he drank. "I hope you plan to stay this time?"

"I think that's the plan," he finally responded, not looking back at her. His voice seemed devoid of emotion, which should have been her first warning.

"Are you glad to be home?"

He seemed to sigh. "Home is wherever Aeri is. And if she's happy, I'm happy. I don't know just how she feels right now, so I will reserve judgement on my own happiness until I'm sure."

His short speech surprised Ash. She knew he had always loved his human partner, but he had never sounded so… selfless wasn't the right word. Indifferent? Maybe. He didn't seem to care about himself anymore, which bothered her, for some reason.

"Being back doesn't matter to you, does it?"

He still didn't look at her. "I think it matters enough to everyone else. Why make it more dramatic than it already seems to be?"

"Because you matter. Your opinion matters. Why come back if you really can't stand us?"

"That's not how it is."

"Then how is it, exactly?"

"You were all fine without me, so please don't treat me like I'm suddenly important. I am perfectly well aware of how upsetting Aeri's and my return has been to everyone, and I'm not interested in making it worse. Which is why I came here in the first place, alone," he emphasized.

Frustrated, Ash couldn't stop herself. "Really? You think you don't matter? That you didn't matter, that you didn't hurt anyone when you left?"

"I know I matter less than you're trying to make me sound. Are you trying to provoke me? I assure you, you cannot."

His words were cold, and that should have been her second warning.

"Don't you care about anyone here? Any of the dragons and people you left behind?"

"That's why I left in the first place, Ash. Because I cared a little too much. I learned my lesson, and even though it would have been much easier to stay away, Aeri and I were obligated to return."

"Does that mean you can't care about any of us ever again? Does that mean you aren't going to try?"

"What do you want, Ash?"

"Can't…" her voice failed her, but she steeled herself and pressed on. "Can't we be friends again?"

Shade finally turned to look at her, his piercing blue gaze seeming to see right into her mind. He stood and walked towards her slowly with no expression on his face, not breaking eye contact. When had he gotten so big? she wondered, something strange twisting in her chest. Finally he stopped, inches away from her face, eyes enormous.

He looked at her searchingly, as if seeking something. Feeling exposed, Ash dropped her gaze. Shade stepped back, and she looked up quickly, but still she could see no emotion, couldn't discern his thoughts.

"No," he said quietly. "I don't think we can."

With that, he turned and spread his wings, taking off for the village and leaving her in the cove, where she stayed, feeling as though someone had ripped into her chest and torn out her heart.

I'll just quietly take my leave... (whispers) see you tomorrow!