Chapter One:

~Hiccup's POV, Years After They left Berk, Middle of the Night~

I figured if I had to dodge one more flaming arrow, I was gonna start yelling at the Hunters. Dropping down next to one of the cages that a lone dragon was being held in, I reached down to my left leg to remove the lock pick that was blended into it. Glancing at the Dramillion, I silently hoped she could tell I was NOT a threat to her, or her mate. "Let's get you out of here..." I slipped the lock pick in the padlock on the cage door, instantly freeing the Dramillion. "Time for you to get going!" I made a fist, punching the tail cuff on her tail, freeing her completely as it shattered.

A roar of pure happiness tore from her as she bounded out of the cage, shooting up into the sky as she did so. I turned quickly, nearly coming face to face with a masked maiden that was wielding a sharp axe. "Fury we've got all of the dragons. Just in case there's one that turns invisible we've opened all of the cages."

I nodded quickly, already running towards the edge of the nearby cliff. "Good job Deadly Axe. Let's get going!" I jumped off of the cliff, Toothless swooping up to catch me on his back even as a deadly nadder darted forward and caught my fiancée. "Everyone! Head home! Mission complete!"

Cheers rippled through the air as a small army of dragons with riders materialized around me. Toothless banked hard to the right, making a U-turn back to our home.

I seriously hope noticed that I had stumbled on my left leg when I climbed down from Toothless... "Yo! Cuz! Maybe you should rest... you've been attacking Dragon Hunters non-stop lately." Snotlout, wearing his dark red suit with a Monstrous Nightmare mask covering his face walked up to me, pulling his mask off as he spoke.

I leaned against the wall of the Clubhouse, one eyebrow raised as I lifted off my own Night Fury mask. "Really? Haven't noticed." He rolled his eyes at my sarcasm, something that five years ago would have been over his head.

"Rest. Please?" Snotlout placed his large muscular hand on my still scrawny shoulder.

I looked him in the eye, knowing that my cousin had a point. Starting up a new tribe, even if it was totally by accident, was rather taxing. Especially when I was the one that everyone looked to for a chief. "Alright. Tell Astrid if you see her that she's in charge until noon. Got it?"

"Yep. I think I see her too." Snotlout pointed towards Deadly Axe. Deadly Axe noticed us looing at her and removed her own mask, which was deadly nadder themed, from her face to reveal that it was indeed Astrid.

"What's up?" Astrid strode over, a brunette version of her, only her outfit and mask was of that of the Razorwhips, right behind her.

I rolled my eyes at Snotlout, jabbing a finger at him. "Someone thinks I need to rest. Think you can handle watching the tribe for me?"

"Definitely." Astrid glanced back at her shadow. "Sorry Heather. Maybe ask Fishlegs?"

Heather nodded in understanding, before slipping silently away. I had to give her credit, she was definitely good at stealth. Pushing myself off of the wall, I limped towards my hut, Toothless shadowing me like always. As I moved along, I nodded to various fellow riders that were milling about, starting to get to work as the sun rose in the morning sky. Pushing my door open, I walked in, my gaze darting over the clutter that was my workspace. Gadgets, incomplete as well as complete scattered everywhere, blueprints covering the five worktables and the walls. Rubbing my neck, I eyed my latest creation, vaguely wondering if I could ever get it to work the way that I needed it to. shaking my head, I walked over to the ladder that led up to the loft where our beds were located. "Rest sounds wonderful right now bud..."

~Stoic's POV~

I stared blankly at the plate that was sitting in front of me, my mind a blank. It's been five years since my son's death and the return of my wife. A sigh escaped me as I pushed the plate away, having not touched anything on it.

"Mommy? Is Daddy sick? He ain't eating." A small child of no older than four, with vibrant red hair and blue eyes looked across the table at me.

I shook my head, lifting a hand up to ruffle her red locks. "I'm just not very hungry is all Briar. Maybe later."

"Okay Daddy..." Briar Haddock turned back to the piece of paper that she had been scribbling on. I felt a slow anger build up as I realized, not for the first time, that my son would never know about his little sister, as sweet as she was.

Standing up abruptly, I quickly left the house. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Valka glancing over at me with worry, though she didn't move from our little girl. Moving down the familiar streets of my village, I nodded in greeting to various Berkians without much thought to who I was greeting, until I came to the docks. Like always, Johan was there ready to trade with us. Cloudjumper was also there, helping the fishermen haul in their catch. "Johan! How have things been going with you lately?"

The nervous trader, who for some reason appeared to be even more apprehensive when Cloudjumper was around, wrung his hands nervously, glancing frequently over at the gentle dragon. "Well you see... there is a tribe that insists on riding dragons and they've been attacking me quite fiercely… taking my nicer goods by force. I was wondering if you wouldn't mind helping me out with this problem..?"

I quickly shook my head, knowing how hard it was for Valka and Cloudjumper to fight other dragons...not that the need for that has come up in the last five years. "I am sorry Johan. But we cannot help you with this problem. Not unless they do something that forces our hand and we end up declaring war on them. That hasn't happen so it is your problem. I have to take care of my own."

"Of course! Of course! I would never imagine that you wouldn't!" Johan hurriedly assured me, even as a familiar redhead ran into me headlong.

"Daddy!" I quickly scooped up my little girl, not for the first time wondering if we shouldn't tell her about her older brother... "Look...I drew you!" Briar help out the paper that she had been scribbling on for me to examine.

I glanced at the scribbled marks...and figured that the portrait was as well done as it was going to get with a four year old doing it. "It's very nice sweetie. Does Mommy know your down here?"

"I'm right here Stoic. Hello Johan." Valka slipped next to me, quickly planting a soft kiss on my cheek, her hand that wasn't holding her staff reaching up to stroke Briar's soft hair.

Briar smiled as she snuggled up to me, protected in my arms where she was going to stay until she was old and grey. I was NEVER going to loose another child again.

A/N: SkyTalon suggested that to get more reviews I try responding to them at the end or beginning of my chapters.

emojigal12318: Thank you! And now we're getting close to why she coming back so early is important to the plot. Hint: she's yea big and super cute! No one tried to guess whose POV it was at the end of the last chapter, which...actually is kind of disappointing since I was so looking forward to the guesses. Oh well. It was Snotlout. Also, please note that when we were in Valka's pov she made it clear that she was only there to quite literally spy on her son and his friends. Learning that he was 'dead' was not something she was expecting... at all.