This lore of this series is set in the world of No More Regrets. As a mild warning, it might not be in chronological order. I will mostly be writing different periods of time/age groups for the characters as I think of them.

Recess could be a fun time for the children at preschool. This was the same for Heather. She enjoyed learning about what she would eventually study in school, but being outside and getting to play with her friends or do the new acrobatics she was learning never failed to excite her. Heather was in the middle of doing cartwheels when she stopped, mid-handstand. Someone was watching. The girl flipped back to her feet and looked around. Sure, there were the other kids on the playground. The twins were eating bugs, Fishlegs was studying the bugs that were not being eaten, Astrid was practicing gymnastics moves, Snotlout was following her around, and Hiccup was in a state of fascination as he watched birds fly. So, Heather knew none of them were watching her. It was someone new. Finally, she spotted the eyes peeking from around a tree. They were green like hers and attached to a boy who looked like he was a couple years older. He had fiery hair and an eager grin. Quickly, he rushed over to her.

"You saw me!" he exclaimed in excitement. "You never saw me the other times."

"What other times?"

"I come here a lot."

Before Heather could say anything else, she was given a big hug. Surprised, she whacked the redhead.

"Why'd you do that?" he asked, looking more emotionally hurt than physically.

"I don't know you."

"Oh right. I'm Dagur! Now, you know who I am."

He gave her another hug, only to be whacked harder. Dagur rubbed his arm where he had been hit.

"What's the problem now?"

"Mommy and Daddy said to not talk to strangers."

"I'm not a stranger."

"You're weird. You've been watching me."

Dagur nodded. "Of course I have. I've been looking for you for a while. I just found you this week."

"Who are you?" Heather spoke again before the boy could. "And don't say you're Dagur."

The redhead shook his head. "I was gonna say I'm your big brother."

This made the girl gawk at him, then cross her arms. "Liar," she accused.

"Am not!" he insisted.

"I'm an only child."

Dagur shook his head more adamantly. "No. You're my little sister."

"Then, why haven't I seen you before?"

"You have, you just don't remember. You were too little when you got adopted."

"I never said I was adopted. How'd you know that?"

"Because I was there when it happened! Well, not there actually. I was close enough. I wasn't supposed to be there, so I was hiding under some furniture."

"What do you want then?" Heather asked, still not sure if she believed him.

"I want to be family again. When it's recess here, wanna play?"

After a moment, the brunette nodded. "Okay, that sounds nice."

Dagur hopped up and down, laughing in glee.

"Your laugh is kinda funny," Heather commented.

The boy stopped as quickly as he had begun. "Sorry."

"I don't mind. It's also kinda fun."

Dagur lit up and grinned. He pointed towards the high bars attached to a swing set.

"Let's try that out."

Heather followed his gaze and nodded. She started going for the ladder, but he stopped her.

"Ladders are boring," Dagur said.

"But I can't reach the top without it."

"You can with me! I'll put you on my shoulders."

"Okay, thanks!"

Without warning, Dagur hoisted Heather up onto his shoulders and brought her over to the bars. Excitedly, she began to climb across, using her arms. It was fun, but she also was not used to dangling for so long. Dagur stayed underneath her to watch, eyes moving to her hands to see how strong her grip was. When the girl slipped, he was there to catch her. Heather looked disappointed in herself, but Dagur poked her nose.

"You'll be better next time. You reached too far and messed up your balance. Let's try again."

This lifted her spirits. When Dagur brought her back over to the bars, she happily tried again and was met with more success. After a little while, the teachers called for the kids to come back inside. The boy had a pouty face, but he gave Heather a hug. It seemed sadder than the first ones.

"You can't tell anyone who I am to you," he said.

"Why?"

"Because then, we won't get to hang out."

Heather did not like the idea of never seeing her brother again, so she nodded.

"I won't tell anyone."

Dagur let go and gave her a smile. "Good. See you tomorrow, Sis."

"See you then!"

The boy scurried off towards an area Heather could not see. She returned inside and finished up the lessons. When her mom came to pick her up, the woman quickly noticed her happy smile.

"Today was extra nice?"

"Yeah! I met…" Heather stopped herself before she made her mistake. "I met another kid and we played on the bars. It was really fun. He helped me reach them, so I didn't even have to try to climb the ladder."

Her mother smiled. "I'm happy to hear that, Sweetie. I love it when you make new friends."

Heather grinned, proud of herself for keeping the secret. The next few weeks went like this with the two secret siblings playing during recess, then splitting up for the night. Heather even began feeling sad on the weekend when she could not see her brother. Her parents could not explain it. The only new thing in her life they could think of was that boy from the preschool. They sat awake in bed, considering this.

"I have off tomorrow," the mother said. "I could go there at recess to see who he is. He's clearly not one of her other friends. Even if she made a mistake saying he's new, Snotlout and Fishlegs aren't tall enough for her to reach and Hiccup wouldn't be able to lift her even if he was."

"I don't know, Ebba."

"Bo, we should figure out who this is. What if there's a creep at the school?"

This caused the father's face to cloud over. "Anyone targeting our daughter doesn't know what's coming to 'em."

"I know, which is why I want to see for myself who this friend is. If it's harmless, I'll let you know tomorrow night."

"And if it isn't?"

"Then, you'll probably find out on the news."

Bo chuckled, knowing that his wife meant every word. He hoped it would not be necessary. Ebba did as well. She drove Heather to the preschool the next day, then drove away until recess time. Ebba watched from the car as Dagur popped up and began to push Heather on the swings. The mother's eyes widened. She had expected either a much older stranger or a fellow student. Neither was not an option she had in her mind, yet the boy truly was neither of those. Ebba grinned as she heard the girl laughing. Whoever this child was, he made her daughter happy, so she liked him (even if Heather was swung so high that her mother's heart nearly stopped several times). Later when Heather was getting in the car, Ebba had a suggestion for her.

"I'm baking cookies for the weekend."

"Oh no."

Ebba laughed. "I'm going to get these snickerdoodles right. If I can't make anything else, I'll have cookies for Santa."

Heather seemed doubtful. "Can't we just ask Daddy to help with that?"

"Nope. It's not fair that he makes everything. When you're older, you'll learn that relationships are about give and take. That includes friendships." Ebba glanced at the rearview mirror to look at her. "Speaking of, tomorrow, you should invite your new friend over for cookies on Saturday."

"I can invite him?" Heather asked, eyes twinkling.

"Of course! He's no different from your other friends."

The girl did not agree with that last part, but she made sure to not say it. When Bo got home from work, he was happy to have not seen any police cars around his wife.

"So, I don't need to get an attorney?" he joked, kissing her.

"Not today at least," she answered, playfully smiling at him. "He's a kid. I'd say he's probably seven. He looks like a second-grader."

"A second-grader? Why isn't he in school?"

"I have no idea. Maybe his parents homeschool him."

"Have you seen his parents?"

"No, I just saw him, then he ran off. Most likely, he's sneaking out."

Bo began to frown. "I don't think Heather should be friends with someone who plays hooky so regularly."

"You should see her when he's around, though. She just lights up. It's adorable."

The man still looked uncertain. "We'll see."

"Might see soon. She's going to ask him about coming over to bake with us."

"Us?" Bo asked, paling.

"I am not that bad."

"Well…"

"No cookies for you if that's how you're going to be."

"Oh, thank goodness."

Ebba playfully pushed Bo, who began laughing. Truthfully, they both were curious about getting to meet the boy. Heather wanted to give them that chance. When the next day came, she hardly wasted any time before asking.

"Can you come over for cookies?"

"Cookies? You bake?"

"A little. Mommy mostly does, but she's normally bad. She keeps trying. It'll be more fun if you're there."

Dagur looked happy enough to explode. "Yeah! I'll be there."

Heather grinned at him in excitement. "We're going to start at 12." She paused. "But you don't know where I live."

"Yeah, I do. Told you, I've been looking for you for a while. Finding where you live was the first thing I did."

The girl felt a little weirded out by that, but she supposed it was fine. They resumed their playing, this time on the seesaw as Dagur kept trying to see if he could shoot Heather into the sky. He made sure to catch her when he succeeded in his mission.

"What did he say?" Ebba asked, once they were in the car together again.

"He'll bake with us. I think you'll like him a lot. He's nice. His laugh lasts for a while, but I like it."

The woman smiled, listening closely as Heather began explaining how the rest of her day had gone. When morning arrived, Ebba was working tirelessly to set up everything so that the ingredients were already in cups and just needed to be poured into the mixing bowl. It already seemed like it was going to be difficult. She had forgotten that the eggs needed to be room temperature and had lost the cinnamon. The mother was not even sure if the butter would thaw in time. Bo entered the kitchen, sensing her nervousness and found the cinnamon.

"I've never loved you as much as I do right now," Ebba said, giving him a hug in thanks.

"It's easy to make you a happy wife," he teased.

Ebba rolled her eyes as she set out some parchment paper. Heather got up soon afterwards and happily joined her parents, eating some scrambled eggs for breakfast. She waited in the family room until she heard the doorbell ring. Heather went over to answer the door, getting stopped by her parents so that she did not get in the habit of opening it for people. Ebba answered instead, seeing the tiny redhead on the doorstep. Dagur grinned up at the woman.

"Are you the bad baker?" he asked innocently.

The mother sighed and heard her husband laughing.

"Yes, she is."

"Good! Then, I'm at the right spot after all. Hi, Heather!"

"Hi, Dagur!"

The boy half-skipped inside, giving the girl a big hug. Ebba stayed at the door for a little longer, waiting to find a car, or a bus, or any other signs that he had come with someone.

"Are your parents here?" she asked.

Dagur shook his head, being led to the kitchen by Heather. "No." He spotted the sink and washed his hands. "What are we baking?"

"Snickerdoodles," Heather told him.

"I've never had those."

"They're good…when Daddy makes them," she added, whispering.

Bo beamed and Ebba squinted at him. Still, the man did feel a bit of concern.

"Did you tell your parents that you'd be here? I'm a little surprised they didn't want to see where you'd be going."

Dagur shrugged. "They don't get worried about stuff like that. I can handle myself."

He peeked into the cookbook. As he did, his smile faded.

"What's wrong?" Ebba asked, going over to the kids.

"Nothing," the redhead quickly answered.

Heather tilted her head at him. "Are you okay?"

Dagur frowned, then sighed. His head hung slightly.

"I've never looked at a cookbook. I don't get what these measurements are."

"That's nothing to be embarrassed about," Bo told him. "Everyone has to start somewhere."

Dagur's head lifted and his eyes held hope in them. The parents went over and began going through what the symbols meant as they mixed the ingredients. Then, Ebba shooed Bo away.

"I forgot that you're not supposed to be doing this. Scoot! You'll be the audience."

Bo leaned against the counter to watch his family and the guest.

"So, Dagur," he said, "where do you go to school?"

"Not too far from here," the boy answered, smashing a cookie with a cup so that it was flat.

He might have gotten a little too thrilled with the activity. The parents heard the laugh that Heather had mentioned. It was definitely unique.

"Do you have a favorite kind of cookie?" Heather asked.

"Um, I think I've had the yellow-ish ones with the stuff on top. So, that."

Heather paused, unsure which one he meant. "You should see it here for Christmas. We always have a whole lot."

Dagur's eyes glimmered with intrigue. "Could I come back for Christmas?"

The parents looked at one another.

"I think that could probably happen," Bo said.

"Thanks!"

Dagur let out another happy laugh. When the cookies were baking, he seemed like he could not stand still. The boy shifted from foot to foot.

"What do you normally do while you wait?" he asked, desperate for a distraction.

"We try to not go too far since the cookies tend to finish baking faster than we expect," Ebba said, looking a little sheepish. "But that doesn't mean we just have to watch them. What do you like to do?"

"I like doing knife tricks."

The mother's expression went blank for a moment. "Ah, th-that's interesting."

"I could show you!"

Bo and Ebba shared a glance.

"Maybe next time," the father said.

"Okay, just let me know. I could teach you," Dagur said, looking at Heather.

"Alright."

"Well," Ebba quickly interjected, "maybe we should wait until Heather's a bit older before we start doing that. We don't want her to get hurt."

Dagur looked a little disappointed, but he nodded. "I wouldn't let her get hurt, but I'll wait."

The group kept talking, then the cookies finally came out. Dagur eagerly gobbled up one.

"I'm at the wrong place," he said.

Ebba regarded him in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Because you're not the bad baker, so I guess this is just a Heather lookalike."

The mother grinned. "Aw, thank you, Dagur. It feels nice to finally have someone like my food." She turned to see the rest of her family almost gagging. "You two could learn from him."

Heather put her cookie on a napkin and pushed it away from her. "Dagur, we need you to try more cookies. They're supposed to be sweet."

"I measured everything out this morning," Ebba sadly revealed.

Bo began to chuckle. "Darling, did you use the salt instead of sugar again?"

The mother's eyes widened and her face went red. "Now that you mention it…I really need to label those containers."

Ebba had to laugh when the others started back up. She would have to find another way to get those cookies mastered. When it got later, Dagur gave Heather a goodbye hug.

"Thanks for letting me come over, Mr. and Mrs. Heather's parents," he said. "It was fun!"

"You're quite welcome," the father said.

"It was a pleasure to have you here with us," the mother added.

"Can he come back to hang out next Saturday?" Heather asked.

"If it's alright with his parents."

"It'll be fine," Dagur assured them. He began waving. "See ya on Monday, Heather!"

The boy left the home, making a small bit of worry grow in the parents. When Heather had been tucked in and told good night, they went to the kitchen to speak.

"Cute kid," Bob said. "Might have a bit of a violent streak, but I don't have a problem with him and Heather playing together. I just wonder why he'd want to spend time with a preschooler. You'd expect him to have some friends his own age."

Ebba shrugged. "I can't talk. I used to always have younger kids following me around at school, so I'd normally hang out with them."

"Maybe it's the same with him. I wonder when we'll meet his folks."

"If we'll meet them."

The couple stayed up a while longer, then spent most of the subsequent day hearing how much Heather was looking forward to the next time she would get to invite the redhead over. Some more weeks passed with this new trend of Dagur coming by on Saturday and leaving before it got too late. He always paid close attention to the time, heading out before anyone felt obligated to give him a ride due to it being night. One Saturday, the undercover siblings were playing out in the backyard.

"Mommy is growing a veggie garden," Heather said, going over to the tomatoes. "We're gonna make fresh spaghetti and a bunch of other things."

"That'll be tasty!" Dagur's grin immediately fell as his eyes locked onto something. "Heather," he said, sounding serious, "get back."

The girl turned to him in confusion. Before she could ask why, she saw a large rat out of the corner of her eye. It lunged at her, but Heather was knocked on her bottom. With wide eyes, she saw the rodent squirming in Dagur's hands. It snarled and snapped its jaws, twisting around to try to get free. The boy glared at the animal.

"No one hurts my sister," he growled.

In a swift motion, Dagur drew a blade with his left hand, still keeping his grip on the rat. He stabbed it through the core, spilling out the entrails. Heather's face went a little pale as she watched the rodent's body go limp and the grass turn red. Dagur was still glaring at the animal, then he flung it aside and his expression brightened as he went over to his sister.

"Are you okay?"

Heather nodded, a little shaken. Her eyes widened more and she quickly got up.

"You're bleeding!"

Dagur glanced down, seeing a nasty bite mark on his right forearm. "Oh, I guess so."

The brunette quickly caught his left hand and began leading him up to the house.

"Daddy! Mommy!"

Hearing the concern in her voice, the adults hurried out. They immediately saw what was wrong and leapt into parental mode. It felt like a bit of a whirlwind to Dagur, but they began cleaning the wound and putting on a bandage.

"This might need stitches," Ebba said, brows furrowed as she wrapped up the arm. "What happened?"

"There was a rat," the boy explained, intrigued by the parents' process.

"Dagur killed it before it bit me," Heather added.

"Thank you," the parents said sincerely.

Dagur grinned, blushing a little. His smile faded when Bo spoke again.

"This will keep you from bleeding for now, but we'll need to call your parents."

"Why?"

"You'll need an antibiotic to make sure this doesn't get infected. The rat might have had a lot of bacteria that could make you sick."

Dagur got quiet, but he also looked nervous. "They're not home right now."

"Not too many people use landlines anymore. If you give us one of their cell phone numbers, we could call."

"Th-they're busy."

"Then, we can drive you to the hospital, but we'll still have to tell the nurses how to contact them."

"I'm okay!" the boy insisted. "Look, you fixed my arm up. I never get sick anyway. I'll be fine."

The parents eyed one another subtly.

"Dagur," Bo said sternly, although he was not harsh, "it wouldn't be responsible of us to not make sure you received proper first aid after a rat bite."

"I just wanna go home. Why won't you let me?"

The nervousness in Dagur's expression had melted into fear. Heather looked at the redhead with a sad expression.

"We wanna help."

Her brother turned to her and saw her concern. He let out a soft sigh.

"I'll go, but I don't know their numbers."

"That's alright. Have you been to the hospital near here?" Ebba asked. When she received a pitiful nod, she added, "Then, they might already have your records."

The four people got in the car and Dagur could not stop tapping his fingers on his knee for the entire ride. It was the quietest he had ever been around Heather. When they got to the hospital, the injury was explained and Dagur received the necessary aid. The parents almost expected him to have been afraid of shots, explaining why he was so reluctant to go to the hospital, but he handled it well and did not even seem to care when he was stuck by the needle.

"He'll be fine," the nurse said, giving the group a happy smile. Her gaze moved to the parents. "Could I speak with you for a moment?"

Bo stayed with the kids as Ebba went with the woman. He noticed how Dagur's gaze stayed on them both and his foot anxiously tapped the floor.

"Is everything alright?" the mother asked.

"It's fine," the nurse assured her. "I just want to update Dagur's records. No one told me that he'd been adopted."

Ebba blinked for a moment. "Hmm?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Maybe I made a mistake. I thought that you and your husband had adopted him."

"We weren't even aware that he was an orphan. He's befriended our daughter, so he said his parents were fine with him coming by to visit."

The nurse's eyes widened. "No, if I remember correctly, he's been in an orphanage for the past two years."

All Ebba could do was regard the woman in shock. She hardly knew anything about this child. When she got back to her family, the look on Dagur's face showed that he knew what she had just learned. Bo also could tell something was wrong, but Ebba gave him a look to tell him that she would explain once they got home. The group got back into the car to leave the hospital.

"I didn't think you'd let me come by if you knew," Dagur blurted out. "I'm sorry I lied about my parents."

Bo's brow raised in confusion.

"He's been in an orphanage," Ebba mouthed.

Bo's eyes widened. "What made you decide to be around Heather?"

Dagur looked at the girl. "She's my sister."

The father pulled the car over because he felt too confused to properly think and drive simultaneously.

"A-are you sure?"

"Yeah. I was with her every day since being put in the orphanage until you took her away with you."

"The adoption agency never said she had a sibling," Bo said quietly.

He and Ebba glanced at one another, not really knowing what to do. Communicating silently, they decided to go to the orphanage. Dagur seemed to be in lower spirits as he saw where they were headed.

"I said I'm sorry!" he insisted. "Please don't make me stay away."

"We aren't," Ebba told him. "We think you've been separated from Heather for too long."

Dagur's miserable expression turned into one of bewilderment. "Wait, are you…?"

Bo gave the boy a warm smile. "I think you've gotten to know us pretty well. Do you think you'd like to become a permanent resident of our home?"

A shocked laugh came from the boy and he nodded. "Yeah!"

"Okay, then just wait here while we talk with someone," Ebba said.

The redhead excitedly nodded his head, hugging Heather who had begun giggling.

"We're gonna live like a brother and sister now," she realized, grinning.

Her parents smiled and exited the car, entering to find the woman they had spoken to those years ago. She looked surprised to see them.

"Is there a problem with Heather?"

"Not necessarily, but you never told us she had a brother," Ebba said, eyes cold. "Does she have any other siblings we weren't told about?"

"No, just the brother."

"We would have adopted them both," Bo stated, feeling irritated. "We never meant to separate them. Now that we know, let's change that. We'd like to fill out the adoption papers for Dagur."

The woman regarded them both with a cool gaze. "I'm sorry, but you can't."

"Why not? You thought we were a safe enough home for Heather. If you want to check again, we can take you to our house to prove that we're able to support two children," Ebba said, frowning.

"I don't doubt that, but it's not about supporting two children. It's about supporting one child and Dagur. He can't go to a home with another child."

The parents were quiet as they tried to make sense of what they had just heard.

"What?" Bo asked. "How does that make sense? He's got a sister. If he weren't here, he would've been in that type of home."

"And you can see how well that went."

Bo quickly caught Ebba's wrist, calming her before she could start cursing out the woman.

"Why is that then?" she asked, through gritted teeth.

"We found him…peculiar when he first arrived–I'm sure you've noticed by now–so we had counselors test him. He needs a home where he can receive attention."

"We'll give him attention."

"More than you could supply while dividing it between two children. It's also possible he could hurt your daughter."

"We've seen them together. He wouldn't hurt her," Bo said confidently.

"Regardless, for the wellbeing of them both, he needs to be put in a different home. I don't make these rules, but–"

"You make everyone suffer, following them," Ebba snapped.

The woman behind the desk looked unfazed. "If you know where Dagur is, could you get him to return?"

Too upset for words, they nodded and turned to leave. Before they reached the car, a devastated expression crossed the father's face.

"I can't believe we have to tell him that he can't stay with us."

Ebba nodded, swallowing hard. Her eyes felt teary, but she tried to keep them dry. The parents went to the right side of the car and opened the door. A spark in Dagur's eyes dimmed when he saw their faces. An unreadable expression flashed, but it changed to one of nonchalance.

"I'll see you during the week, Heather," he said, unbuckling his seat.

"You can still come around over the weekend," Bo offered.

"I'm fine," Dagur stated curtly, walking towards the entrance. "Don't want to bother anybody."

"You wouldn't bother us."

The boy stopped walking. His hands clenched into fists, hearing the unhappiness in the man's voice. It did not make sense, so he spun to face the parents.

"Why are you trying to act like you're sad?" he asked, angry and confused. "You knew you didn't want to adopt me! You could've just said that! I never even thought you would in the first place until you suggested it. Not like that's a surprise. The only family I'll ever have is Hea–"

Ebba engulfed the child in a hug. Dagur's eyes widened and he could hear some soft sobs on his shoulder. It made his throat sore. Bo bent down to join in the group hug. Dagur's face got wet with his own tears as he hugged the parents he wished he could have shared with his sister.

"We do want you in our family," Ebba assured him, moving back so that he could see the sincere look in her teary eyes.

"There are just some rules that the orphanage has to follow," Bo explained. "They're not allowed to let you stay with a family who has a child already."

Dagur still did not feel like he fully understood, but he nodded.

"You're welcome by our home any time. We mean that. You're our daughter's brother. You'll always be family."

Another little sob escaped the child and Ebba gently patted his face dry with a tissue. With a little smile, Bo spoke.

"I think that Mr. and Mrs. Heather's Parents might be a little formal for family."

The boy looked up at him with curious eyes. "What do I call you then?"

"How about Bo and Ebba?" The father held up a finger. "Now, we don't give many kids first-name privileges, so that makes you extra special."

An uncertain smile crossed Dagur's face. "I kinda like the sound of that."

"I was hoping you would."

The parents stood back up. Heather had gotten out of her seat and went to give her brother a big hug. It broke the adults' hearts to watch.

"We'll see you soon," they promised.

Dagur nodded and waved before heading back into the orphanage. It was impossible to miss the sniffles in the backseat as the family drove back home. They wished things could have gone the way they wanted, but they would try to do their best with what they were given. No piece of paper could tell them who was part of their family.