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Ruffnut knew coming back to Berk from Dragon’s Edge was going to be miserable, but she somehow didn’t think it was gonna be this bad. She kept trying to tell herself that there’d be a lot more people to Loki all the time when they get back, just like there used to be, and she did miss her and Tuff’s house here a little… but she misses the Edge so much more.
“That’s enough both of you,” Stoick yells, when he finally catches up with her and Tuffnut after their latest prank.
“Hey, what makes you think it was us, Chief?” Tuffnut asks innocently.
“Are going to tell me there’s someone else on this island who would be starting so many fires?” Stoick demands.
Ruffnut holds up her hands innocently.
Barf and Belch tilt their heads to look at the group of approaching angry adults and then Barf puffs out a nice stream of green gas to blind them, and Belch sparks it.
“Yeah!” Ruffnut applauds, as her and her brother leap onto their dragons back and take off while everyone else is distracted coughing, “Great job, Barf!”
Her dragon head growls happily
Belch leans closer to growl too.
“Not you, just Barf,” Ruffnut corrects, waving Belch’s head away.
Belch spits a spark at her and Barf turns to headbutt him and then they go spiraling out of the sky and the near crash is awesome.
Even if from there, they escape back to their house to avoid any further entanglements for the day.
“I really didn’t miss all the yelling adults,” Ruffnut grumbles, once they’re back inside.
“Yeah, it’s such low-quality service,” Tuffnut agrees, “You’d think we would have gotten a welcome home party for coming back. Well, we did and it pretty awesome but it only lasted a night.”
“Pfft. Typical,” Ruffnut huffs. She wants to do something exciting and cool to get her mind off of everything the way she always has but nothing here feels half as exciting or cool as things on the Edge ever could be. “But hey, at least we can now corrupt the next generation into being followers of Loki! And we can give advice to all our Thorston cousins on the best stunts. Haven’t done that in a while.”
Ever since they became dragon riders, they really have been popular in their family… because it does sometimes really feel like only Thorstons know how truly appreciate the art of Loki-ing.
Tuffnut perks up a little at that. “Yeahhh!!! We’ll teach them all the ways of the truly disturrrrrrrbed.”
Ruffnut grins, nodding along.
Barf and Belch make noises of agreement from where their heads are dangling through the window of the house.
But even so, her excitement still dies quickly. “I miss the boar pit,” Ruffnut sulks.
“Yes!” Tuffnut shrieks gleefully, leaping to his feet, “Let’s dig a new one, sister-nut! Right here in the yard.”
Ruffnut grins, excitement coming back. “And then we can wrestle all the boars on Berk into symbiotic heaven!”
They get to work.
Of course, there’s a lot of what chaos are they causing now looks thrown their way as they work, but Ruffnut’s good at ignoring that. Though, she almost forgot how nice it was to not have to worry about so many other people and what they thought of them.
Even if Astrid often treated them the same way –
“What are you two up too?” Astrid’s voice asks, as if a mere thought about her summed her from nowhere, and Ruffnut jumps, head whipping around and trying to blink the mud out of her eyes.
“Boar pit,” Ruffnut offers, “No house can be truly complete without those.”
Astrid rolls her eyes, but then oddly enough, she smiles. “Well, I can’t imagine you two not having one anymore, either.”
“Want to be the first to help with a trial run?” Ruffnut asks, even if she can only imagine what Astrid would say to a question like that. She never gets involved in her and Tuff’s chaos. Ruffnut should probably go chase down Hiccup or Snotlout for this, actually.
“You’re seriously asking me that?” Astrid inquires, incredulously.
“I don’t see any other flaxen-haired friend standing around,” Ruffnut snips back.
“Fine,” the girl agrees, and all Ruffnut can do is gape at her, “But only this once and it’s just an us wrestling match, no boars.”
“Who are you, missy, and what did you do with the real Astrid?” Ruffnut asks, hopping out of the pit and sniffing at Astrid just for drama effect.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” the other girl asks, backing away and giving her an incredulous look.
“You never agree to things like this.” Sure, there’s moments where she can be a lot more fun than she usually looks but they always seem pretty few and far between.
“Gotta admit, it’s pretty quiet out here too without all the fighting,” Astrid replies.
Ohhh.
She’s bored too, isn’t she? Ruffnut’s confused, though. She’s the one who was yelling that real life comes first as though the chaos on Dragon’s Edge wasn’t literally Ruffnut’s life. She doesn’t really have anything to come back to Berk for, except that Hiccup had to come back and she’d follow him anywhere, even if it meant falling off the edge of the planet.
Actually, falling off the edge of the planet sounds fun. How long would you fall before you hit something? Anywayyyy…
“You wanted to come back,” Ruffnut objects.
“I still do,” Astrid shrugs, “But there’s things to miss no matter where you are.” And then she jumps at her, tackling Ruffnut into the pit with no warning.
She gets a face-full of mud and rolls over, spitting out and laughing.
Finallyyyy a nice reminder of why Astrid is her friend because at the end of the day, she still wants them around – occasionally – and that’s more than Ruffnut can say about how most people have treated her and Tuff their entire lives.
So yeah, they are friends, for all that Ruffnut might still be jealous of her. After all, everyone on Berk is tripping over themselves to fan over Astrid, now that she’s back. Sure, the kids do that with Ruffnut and her brother but it’s still not the same as ‘everyone’.
But she’s gonna think about that later. Boar wrestling match first! And she is going to do everything she can to win this fight against Astrid.
***
“Where is it, it’s got to be around here somewhere… I always have everything perfectly organized so why can’t I find this…” Fishlegs mutters, paging through his endless note papers in a frenzy.
Meatlug trots closer, peering down at his desk but there’s really not much she can do to help.
“You don’t see it anywhere, do you girl?” he asks.
She growls regretfully, in what’s obviously a ‘no’.
“That’s okay,” Fishlegs says, patting her briefly, “I’ll find it. I’ve got to find it here somewhere…”
“Need any help, Fishlegs?” Hiccup’s voice asks from the doorway.
It doesn’t even startle him, even if he’s half expecting to turn around and see the doorway to outside his house on Dragon’s Edge, instead of his bedroom door back on Berk.
“I don’t know,” Fishlegs says, frustrated, “I’m just trying to find some of my notes. I’m trying to organize them for the classes I was going to start teaching again but I can’t find them anywhere. I don’t think I could have forgotten it on the Edge, that wouldn’t be good.” He taps his fingers together agitatedly, especially as the longing hits him again. “Or maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad thing…”
Meatlug growls almost hopefully.
“As much as I’d like to find another reason to go back, I think that would just make this harder, Fishlegs,” Hiccup says quietly.
Fishlegs’ shoulders slump. “You’re probably right,” he agrees, “But I miss getting to study all those dragons and doing the regular dragon censuses on the Edge. Although, we should probably do one on Berk again! It’s probably very different from when we were last here.”
Hiccup smiles slightly. “Yeah, that sounds amazing, Fishlegs.”
He smiles back, and actually that does excite him because it’s going to be something new to do about dragons, at least.
Hiccup comes over to help him keep sorting through his notes, and it’s nice to be doing this together the way they always do, but it really makes Fishlegs keep thinking.
“I miss the Dragon’s Eye,” he blurts out, “It was so much easier when we got to study on it. Not that I wouldn’t have copied everything down into notes and organized them regardless but it was still nice.”
And now, there’s never going to be another Dragon’s Eye again.
“Yeah, I know,” Hiccup agrees, quietly, “I miss it too, even if in the end, I guess we really didn’t have it that long.”
Toothless noses his side, cooing quietly.
Meatlug patters forwards to do the same for Fishlegs and he immediately wraps his arms around her tightly. “I know you had fun with it too, girl. That’s how we found Dark Deep so you got to see your home island for the first time and it was amazing to see what all of your lava colors would cause the Dragon’s Eye to show…”
It’s been even longer since they ever got to do that. Having Hiccup’s second Dragon’s Eye was amazing but they never really got the same amount of carefree time to spend on it the way they had with the first one, because they were all taken up fighting the war against Krogan and Johann.
“I just wish we hadn’t had to destroy it,” he admits, “I know it’s for the best and now we’ve protected all dragons everywhere but…”
“Yeah, I know,” Hiccup agrees, “Some things… just don’t work out the way you wish they would the most.”
The silence feels broody and depressing, and Fishlegs has no idea what to do about it. He’s not really good at being upbeat and positive about things most of the time. He’s usually the worry-er.
“But you’re right about doing a Berk dragon census,” Hiccup adds, smiling even if it looks a bit strained, “That’s going to be fun. And hey, just because we’re back here doesn’t mean we have to stop exploring forever. There’re many other directions we can try out flying in, eventually.”
“You really think your dad is going to let you do that?” Fishlegs asks.
“I don’t know. But he can’t stop me if he doesn’t know.” Hiccup’s smile is vaguely teasing and Fishlegs grins back, even if it feels forced.
“Group hug!” he decides, because he has no idea what else to do.
And unlike several years ago when Hiccup ran for his life the first time Fishlegs suggested that, he just stays as Fishlegs yanks him into a hug, and Meatlug and Toothless crowd in on either side of them.
***
The one thing Snotlout can say he did not miss about Berk at all is Spitelout. Okay, he actually did miss him a little but he is not ready to go back to living in the same house with him… even if he really doesn’t have a choice now that they’re back here.
Because it means that he’s back to trying to live up to his dad’s impossible expectations all over again that he should really be good enough to meet might by now, but he’s still really not. He already knows he’s never going to be, because there’s always been something incredibly wrong with him.
Not having to worry about waking up to a possibly erupting volcano is nice, but Snotlout’s beginning to think that’s the only thing that’s nice.
Having his “S” leaning up against the wall of his bedroom is only making him miss the Edge even more, too. It was just… really, really nice to only have to worry about Hiccup’s rules, instead of Spitelout’s rules, even if he’s never going to tell Hiccup so.
But that gets rubbed in as especially true the next time Spitelout starts yelling at him and that descends into blows the way it always does – at least until Hookfang barges right in the front door and smacks Spitelout with his tail, sending him flying across the room.
Snotlout’s heart flips with sheer panic. “Hookfang!” he yells.
The dragon growls, looking seconds short of flaming up and starting the house on fire.
“You get that dragon under control,” Spitelout seethes, in a voice that only promises this is about to get a lot worse once Hookfang is gone.
“I always tell him not to do that,” Snotlout objects. That’s something he made clear to Hookfang from the beginning – that he can’t just intervene with Spitelout or his dad might decide he has to get rid of him. Well, he probably wouldn’t anymore but there was always a chance in the beginning… but being away from Berk so long probably made Hookfang get more stubborn about this.
Spitelout takes a step closer and Hookfang snorts fire in his face, grabs Snotlout in his mouth, and flies out the door.
“Thanks, Hookfang,” Snotlout says once they’re safely outside and away, even if he rarely says that to his very stubborn, annoying dragon. It’s definitely only going to be a lot worse when he does go home but right now? He’s just grateful to have gotten out of there.
Hookfang grumbles and nudges his head against his chest in a rare display of affection.
“I’m fine, obviously,” he adds.
Hookfang snorts steam at him with enough force to blast his helmet right off.
“Hey!”
But at least they’re back to normal.
And there’s no way he’s going home tonight or probably not for a few nights, and he misses the Edge because if they were still out there, he literally wouldn’t have to worry about it for the next few months. And at least months later, Spitelout would have already calmed down about whatever he was mad about but on Berk, there’s no way Snotlout can avoid him long enough for that.
But there’s no point thinking about that obsessively because it’s going to change nothing. So, Snotlout slinks down to the twins’ house like he always used to when he needed to hide before.
“Doing anything not boring?” he asks, sauntering in as casually as he can.
“Nope, everything is boringgggg now,” Tuffnut whines, “Well, not everything. All the screaming after our Loki pranks is fun. Almost missed that.”
“Your dad was mad at you again?” Ruffnut asks, already catching on.
Snotlout’s shoulders slump. “Yeah.”
“Is there blood?” Tuffnut asks, instantly on his feet and crowding into his personal space, “Where’s the blood? Can I see the blood?” Which is his way of offering to do something about it, and Snotlout’s gone to them enough to know that.
“No blood, just…” he yanks up the edge of his shirt, eyeing the black and blue bruises spreading across his ribs. It hurts, but he’s a Viking. He can handle it. He’s not that weak.
“Nasty,” Ruffnut observes, leaning in close.
“I almost want one of those,” Tuffnut offers, “Almost.”
“I can give you one,” Snotlout huffs. Not that he wants to hit him, actually.
“Sureeee, maybe later!” Tuffnut says cheerily, “Sounds awesomeeeee. We’re still official best friends even back on Berk, so that means copying each other’s injuries sometimes too!”
…it does?
Ruffnut rolls her eyes at them. “We’ve got a ton of snow in our boar pit. We can shove you in there.”
Snotlout can’t even complain, even if he makes a show of grumbling about how that’s not necessary. Having the ice pressed against him makes his ribs stop aching so badly, at least.
And before long, they’re all sprawled in the boar pit together.
“So how many nights are we making room for three?” Ruffnut asks.
“I don’t need to stay here obviously,” Snotlout claims, “But how many don’t you mind?” He does not want to think about going home right now.
“That bad?” she asks.
“Hookfang attacked him.”
“Awesomeee!” Tuffnut yells, fist pumping in the air, “I would have loved to bear witness to such an act of flaming protective rage!”
“I’m sure you’ll have plenty more chances now that we’re back on Berk,” Snotlout grumbles.
“Yeah,” Tuffnut agrees, deflating, “Still wish we weren’t. Then we could go hang out in The Awesome Viking Cave Club North East and play Vikings vs. pirates for a while.”
“I know,” Snotlout agrees, “I almost thought I missed him, but now…”
“The truth doth take time to reveal itself,” Ruffnut says, with needless drama.
“And always leaves tragedy behind,” Tuffnut agrees, nodding along sagely.
Well, they don’t need to put it like that but it’s also kind of true.
“Stay forever if you want,” Ruffnut shrugs, “Annoying yelling adults got kind of lame long ago.”
“But the level of chaos you can cause to witness such fury is awesomeeee. Almost missed that,” Tuffnut adds.
“I didn’t,” Snotlout mutters. The one thing he is going to forever miss about the Edge is that he finally didn’t have to constantly think about all the things his dad expected of him.
***
Astrid’s missed Berk. That’s the one thing she can say with certainty as she helps Berk’s guard set up more defenses around the island. It’s nice to be around her family again, and it’s nice to be around other people period. She was so used to it just being her friends which was sometimes fun, but it’s just not the life she’s used to. And nor was it the life that she wanted to have forever, even if it was usually fun while it lasted.
And now, she actually might rethink about her former decision to join Berk’s guard. Although, the dragon riders are still a thing so she might not have time for that. It’s not like the jobs are that different anyway.
Stormfly is trotting along after her, chirping an occasional approval though there’s not much she can do for this specific part of defenses.
“Ohh great defenses,” Snotlout remarks, appearing out of literally nowhere behind her, “You’re already putting up your most-armored-bedroom weapons all over Berk, too?”
“The flyers really hit Berk hard when we weren’t here,” Astrid points out, “And now that we are, I’m going to make sure nothing like that can ever happen again. No one’s going to think about coming to Berk to attack ever again.” And she’s got plenty of practice in the wars she fought while they were away, so she can almost thank the dragon hunters and flyers for that.
“Well, now that we’re here, I’ll probably get back to making those super cool weapons I would have if we hadn’t left,” Snotlout muses with what looks like entirely fake thoughtfulness.
“Really,” Astrid deadpans with an eyeroll.
He shrugs. “Well, whatever I do, it will obviously be great.”
“Right,” she snorts, “Keep telling yourself that, Snotlout.”
The boy doesn’t say anything to that, fidgeting a little instead. “What are you doing now that we’re back, Astrid?”
“I don’t know,” she shrugs, “Get Berk back up to parr. Maybe train some of the younger warriors. Maybe get more people to become dragon riders.”
“Ohh! A Snotlout trained rider can actually be a thing now,” Snotlout says, perking up, “Although I still wish I hadn’t missed training my dad.”
“Don’t worry, Snotlout,” Astrid says, patting his shoulder, because this once, she can actually understand why he was disappointed about that, even if she still thinks having him around would have just messed up her own lessons, “I was as hard on him as I could be for you.”
“Really?” He looks startled. “…Thanks.”
She rolls her eyes. “It was too tempting not to be. I mean, he’s Spitelout.” And he’s a Jorgenson so getting to take him down a peg or two would’ve been fun even if he wasn’t Snotlout’s dad.
“Wish I could have at least seen you pointing out all of his mistakes even if I didn’t get to do that myself,” Snotlout says.
“Well, it’s too late for that now, but I suppose training some other riders to be even better than him would be a good way to rub in his face that he’s not the best. And besides,” she can’t help adding, “You did help train Gustav and he’s the leader, not your dad. And he’s already getting that rubbed in his face, though I’m not sure he’s even thought about it.”
“True,” Snotlout agrees, brightening a little.
The silence that falls over them is oddly companionable for it being Snotlout, but he is a friend even if a frustrating one, so…
“It’s strange to be setting up defenses here instead of around the Edge,” Snotlout speaks up again after a pause.
“Yeah,” she muses, “But I’m glad to finally get to do it now.”
He side-eyes her. “You’re pretty happy to be back.”
Which brings her back to the little fact that she also feels like she’s the only one, for some reason. “It’s not that I don’t miss the Edge, Snotlout, but at the end of the day, Berk is our home.”
She’s expecting a reply but Snotlout says nothing.
“Even if Stormfly does miss Garff a lot,” she amends, turning to stroke the Nadder in question.
Stormfly growls sadly, even as she nuzzles against her palm.
“Don’t worry, girl, we’ll fly back out there to see him again eventually,” she assures.
Stormfly growls hopefully.
Even if it probably won’t be for a while. They have a lot to do here.
***
“Chicken!” Tuffnut shrieks, panickily running through the streets, “Chicken, where are you?!”
Barf and Belch are repeatedly checking behind rocks that he thinks they already checked behind three times over but he’s not going to underestimate the intelligence of one Barf and Belch, er two Barfs and Belchs, err wait no, one Barf and one Belch. Whatever. Where was he going with that thought again?
Anyway, none of that is as important as finding Chicken.
“I can’t lose you, Chicken!” Tuffnut wails, because now he’s getting increasingly scared, “And you promised to never live a double life a second time so I know you’re not with another rooster right now, right?”
Barf and Belch growl in sympathy as they keep trotting along behind him, occasionally stopping to stick their heads into other people’s windows to check, just in case.
And then Tuffnut runs around another street corner and smacks right into Fishlegs.
“Uh, here’s Chicken for you,” Fishlegs says, holding out the bird in question.
“Chicken!” Tuffnut gasps, snatching her away and squeezing her tightly, about to cry from pure relief, “Never ever run away like that again, okay?”
Chicken clucks at him.
“It’s not safe for birds out here in the wild,” he adds, just to make sure she understands.
“I never considered that might be a problem,” Fishlegs says sympathetically, patting his shoulder, “You probably want to keep a closer eye on Chicken now that we’re on Berk”
“I know!” Tuffnut wails. Because that is seriously one of the things he will never get used to about being back here either. At least on the Edge, his friends actually respected this even if Snotlout complained about the lack of interesting meat in their diet. But no one on Berk is gonna pay attention to any of that. “I don’t understand! How could anyone just… you know,” he trails off, because he doesn’t want to spell such horrors out in front of poor Chicken.
“It is one of our primary food sources,” Fishlegs points out tentatively, “And it is necessary to –”
“Blasphemy!” Tuffnut yells, clutching Chicken tighter, “How could you even say such a thing?! I will not accept any such excuses.”
Fishlegs sighs. “I was going to say that this far north, we really cannot survive without eating some kind of meat.”
Chicken clucks.
“Hey, don’t scare her,” Tuffnut scolds.
“Sorry,” Fishlegs says, “But I was just saying. Although, I have read about places where no one eats meat at all in some of the books that I got about places far away. They say they can grow plants all year round and being vegetarian is normal.”
“Ooh, awesome,” Tuffnut breathes, “I should be that. Thingy. Whatever that word was again. In fact, why isn’t everyone?” He just can’t understand how anyone could look at Chicken and ever hurt another chicken again. Same for dragons. Not that anyone had better ever eat dragons but still. Seriously.
“I mean, it probably is do-able,” Fishlegs says contemplatively, “If you’re able to have enough plants to live on all year, but we really don’t up here.”
Tuffnut’s shoulders sag. “All I know is I can never eat in the Great Hall again,” he whines, then holds up Chicken to his face, “Ohh poor Chicken. No one here respects that you have rotisserie-phobia.”
Chicken clucks.
“But don’t worry, I’ll keep you safe,” he adds. “Even if it’ll be hard with so many people.” Someone could steal and eat his pet and it fills him with both anger and terror. He can’t let that happen. He can’t even think about it but he hasn’t been able to stop thinking about it ever since they came back.
“You know, it’s weird,” Fishlegs comments, “I’m not used to having this many people around anymore either and it’s nice to get to teach again and share my knowledge with other people, but I’m so used to it just being you and Hiccup and the others. And I really didn’t mind that at all.”
“Maybe while you’re here, you can become an authority on why no one should hurt chickens,” Tuffnut suggests hopefully.
“Uhh… I don’t think that would work with Vikings, Tuffnut.”
“It worked to teach them that about dragons!”
“That’s different.”
“No, it’s not,” he says sullenly, “Except that Hiccup is a magical creature and both of us are just lame humans. Just one handsome ragdoll and a fluffy marshmallow.”
“A what?!” Fishlegs squawks indignantly.
“Think about it, man,” Tuffnut says, gesturing wildly, “You look exactly like a marshmallow! Flesh-colored in with a little hair on the top.”
Fishlegs glares at him for some reason. “Thank you for that description, Tuffnut.”
“You’re welcome! Don’t worry, I am the expert of such descriptions. Or perhaps one could say a specialist and professional.” Tuffnut strokes his chin thoughtfully. “But hey, I miss the fights. All the awesome chaos and fires and explosions… everything is so boring and lame now.”
“I don’t miss the fighting,” Fishlegs counters, “But I do miss the new dragons.”
“At least we got to see the King of Dragons mind-control other dragons. That was awesomeeeee,” Tuffnut crows. And he was so afraid they were gonna miss out on that entirely, with Astrid’s insistence that there was something wrong with all of them for even thinking about how badly they wanted to see that dragon, instead of going back to Berk.
You know what? He actually can’t wait until Hiccup becomes chief because then maybe Berk will be as awesome as things were out on the Edge. In fact, maybe Hiccup can even help them convert everyone to the ways of Loki.
Awesomeeee.
Barf and Belch finally saunter over, peering down at Chicken and then growling, startled, as though they only just noticed that Tuffnut already found her.
Weird.
But he’s still not going to underestimate the intelligence of one-or-is-it-two dragons the way everyone does with him and his sister.
***
Being back on Berk comes with countless things Hiccup does not miss at all, even if there are a few pluses. He did miss Stoick a lot and so did Toothless, and it’s nice to get to be with him again… even if now that he’s back here, he can’t help remembering all the reasons it was also nice to be away. It was easier to remember to appreciate the time he had with his dad when there wasn’t much of it so all the time there was was usually positive.
And he might be a hero to Berk now, but it doesn’t really change that there’s still people who just…
Well, maybe it’s just that Hiccup’s still really bad at dealing with people and he has no idea how Stoick thinks he’s going to be able to manage being chief. That’s not what he wants. His life is dragons. Not the people of Berk.
“I did miss the night flights,” Hiccup comments softly, as he and Toothless fly over Berk, moonlight reflecting off the water. But his heart aches just as badly for the moonlight flights over the Edge, with the sound of nothing but dragons screeching all around. Yeah, there’s plenty of echoing dragon cries here too but there’s also the sound and sights of so many people.
Toothless growls his agreement as they go for another dive.
“I’m just afraid that it’s not going to be long before my dad tries to hand over the reins of being chief to me soon,” Hiccup adds. Berk is that one place that humans and dragons live as one – even if they’ve spread it to a few other islands – and it’s still his home so he’ll do anything to protect it but that doesn’t mean he wants to lead it.
Toothless growls softly, twisting his head around to look at him.
“I know you’ll still be there, bud,” Hiccup murmurs, patting his head, “But that will mean… I don’t even know how much time I’ll have to just fly. Or go exploring. Or see new dragons. Or… anything, really.” And it would be one thing if it’s the life he wants but it’s not.
He wanted dragons and the Dragon’s Eye and… most of those dreams were left in nothing but flames and ash, far away.
But even if the Dragon’s Eye is gone – a crushing weight in his chest a memory of the childhood he wanted but he’ll never get, simply because of the cruelty of a world he still can’t understand – that doesn’t mean he can’t still have dragons. Or… he could, if he didn’t have to be chief someday probably soon.
The Night Fury coos his solemn agreement, but there’s really not much anyone can do about it.
Although, the one thing he will admit that is relieving about being back on Berk is the peacefulness. There’s no war – right now. And he’s exhausted from having to constantly look over his shoulder, having to constantly make sure he’s not messing something up that’s going to get one of his friends killed. Especially when he made so many mistakes, that they often only got out of from pure chance. He doesn’t know how much longer he could’ve carried that weight.
Back on Berk, Stoick is going to be the one leading, the one with that burden, and right now, that’s a pure relief.
But there’s still so much on his mind.
“I guess being here makes me afraid that things are going to go back to how they were before we left for the Edge in the first place,” Hiccup adds, sighing softly, “You know, how it was only us and our friends were just… busy.”
It’s probably crazy to be so afraid of losing them again but they had barely been spending anytime with each other anymore before they left for the Edge. It was the wars with Dagur and the dragon hunters that had reforged that friendship into something Hiccup was certain would never fade away again.
Or at least, he was until they came back and maybe everything hasn’t slid back into the way it used to be before they left but things are still already so different.
Toothless twists around, growling what sounds like a look behind you.
Hiccup looks over his shoulder, startled, and very much not expecting to see all of his friends flying out of the darkness, trying to catch up with him.
“Wait for us!” Snotlout calls.
“I didn’t expect you guys to be up,” Hiccup comments, startled but definitely overwhelmingly relieved because this feels normal, at least.
“You thought we’d be in bed? At this hour?” Ruffnut asks incredulously.
“Yeahhhhh, midnight flights!” Tuffnut cheers, “Why’d we want to miss those?”
“Look at all the dragons we can see from here,” Fishlegs adds, peering down at Berk.
“It is amazing,” Hiccup agrees, smiling faintly. At the end of the day, Berk is still their home, even if there’s other places he really wants to be, too.
“You know, you’re not the only one who misses flights together where it’s just us,” Astrid adds.
Toothless purrs happily.
Yeah, maybe – maybe his friends fading away is at least one thing he doesn’t need to be worried about. Because no matter what island they’re calling home, them and all of their dragons are always going to be together.