Chapter 4
~ Hiccup's POV ~

I finished fixing Mildew's roof, as he was last on my list, after dark at the aid of Tuffnut holding a torch.
"Uh Hiccup...Are you nearly finished, my butt's gone numb with the ache!" He moaned, rubbing his backside.

I laughed lightly and swung my hammer against the nail once more. "Almost there, Tuff."

"Oh good. My arm's aching too."

I glared at him.
"YOUR arm's aching?!" I groaned, waving the hammer for emphasis.

"Whatever..."

I rolled my eyes and swung down one last time. "There. That's the last one. Hopefully we won't have an outbreak of sneezing terrible terrors in the near future."

"Oh good!" Tuffnut cheered, scampering down the ladder, the torch in hand.

"Uh Tuff..." I started without bothering to go on. "Oh Great...Toothless! Give me some light, bud!" I called to where my dragon was snoozing on the ground below.
He fired a blast into the sky and I clambered down to him. "Thanks."
He nuzzled my hand and I scratched his ears.
"Let's go home."

~*~*~*~

Everything was hurting when Toothless and I landed outside our home. I pushed myself through the door and flopped onto a chair by the fire.
Despite it being summer, it was a cool night and the hot fire sending a small pipe of smoke out through the roof was most welcoming.
I sighed heavily and twisted my head in a few circles to loosen the crick in my neck, then stretched to flex the muscles in my back that were sore from bending down all day.
Astrid poked her head around the door post. "Good evening sir!" She whispered to me, smiling contentedly.
I opened my eyes and nodded my reply while gulping down a mug of milk.
It didn't take me long to down it and I gasped with satisfaction. "Everything hurts!"
Astrid giggled and wandered behind me where she gently started massaging my shoulders.
"Hard day?" She cooed with a teasing giggle on the back of her words.
"Yup! Thank Thor Fishlegs found a cure for the virus! I don't think we would have had the power or the wood to keep rebuilding the rooftops. Of all the perching places on Berk, they choose our homes! Ah, I can't stand the smell of timber any more!" I complained in all seriousness.

Astrid laughed softly at my ranting. "Oh Hiccup, can I make it up to you?" she asked, slipping round so she was bent over me, I was close enough to be able to see the fire dancing in her eyes.
"Probably...What are you doing up so late anyway?" I asked as she gently played with my hair, running her fingers through it.

"I have jobs! The house was a mess, the vegetable garden was in desolation, Terrible Terrors again...Lucy needed tending to, the dragons needed sorting, the list goes on, Hiccup. That is why I am still up...besides...You need tending to, forget the house. You hardly have any time to yourself, and when you do, you're looking after Toothless or Lucy or some extra thing in the village. So it is my job, to make sure you get a rest."

I stood up and stopped her playing with the pot on the fire, stirring some disastrous meal that she had made for me. "What if I already have plans?..." I smirked, wrapping my arms around her waist.
Astrid raised a suspicious eyebrow then smiled away from me, releasing a light gasp. "You've been sniffing up Barf's gas again, haven't you?"

I shoved her playfully. "Oi! I'm being serious!"
Astrid laughed again and pushed her lips against mine before standing and tiptoeing towards the door. "So serious...Since when was Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, serious?"
I leapt to my feet and ran towards her so I could begin tickling her. We backed through the door with Astrid squealing and giggling and collapsed onto the bed together.
"You're still a munge-bucket, aren't ya!" She noted, smacking me in the face with a pillow. I sniggered from under the blankets just enjoying the sound of her laughter. Then I sat up quickly and stared into her eyes hoping to get lost in them like I always did.
"I love you Astrid Hofferson Haddock."
I whispered weakly.
Astrid smiled as I kissed her and stroked her cheek softly with the tips of my fingers.
"And I love you Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third."

I laughed with a heavy sigh and flopped down onto the bed beside her, clutching my pillow ready as defence for more blows.
Astrid snuggled down beside me and sighed.
We had not laid there ten seconds before a scream erupted through the house jolting our attention quickly away from slumber.
We jumped to our feet and ran into the room Eva was sleeping in. She was sat up in her bed crying heavily in the darkness. I hurried to her side to comfort her but she pushed me away, still trapped in her dreams.
"No! Get away from me! I won't let you hurt him! He's sick! He's so sick!"
While Astrid fetched the torch from the bedroom and lit the bedroom torches again, I grabbed hold of Eva's shoulders and gently shook her. "Eva wake up, I don't know where you are but it's not real. Wake up, lass!" I pleaded weakly.
Eva carried on trying to push me away then her eyes shot open blazed with fear and hurt. She gasped breathlessly and looked around the room trying to figure out where she was, before throwing her arms around me. "Don't let them hurt me, Hiccup! Don't let them hurt me..."
I hugged her back tightly to comfort her. "It's ok nobody's going to hurt you...it was just a dream. It was just a bad dream."

Astrid shot me a worried glance then hurried out the room at the sound of her daughter's cries next-door.

~*~*~*~

Eva wouldn't go back to sleep until I agreed to stay with her. She slowly drifted into slumber with her head on my shoulder and as I couldn't sleep, I stared into the only lit torch on the wall. It felt good to see her sleeping soundly, but I got no sleep in the time between her waking up in the middle of the night and getting up for morning chores.
I rolled out of bed trying not to wake Eva, but, failed. She roused as I carefully lay her down on the bed.
"Hiccup...I'm sorry. I kept you here all night..." She apologised, toying with her fingers nervously.
I smiled and exhaled deeply. "Don't worry. You needed a friend."
Eva smiled and tucked her knees to her chest.

"So," I sidled over to her and sat by her on the bed's edge. "Who's him?"

Eva gasped and looked away. "Him....?"

I could tell she knew what I was talking about but wasn't prepared to tell me. "You kept saying not to hurt him and he was sick? Who, is he?"

Eva played with her fingers for a moment to buy herself some time. "My brother..."
I frowned and cocked my head inquisitively. "You have a brother?"
Eva's eyes filled with tears and she looked away hoping I wouldn't see. "Had a brother."

I swallowed those words as they gripped my heart.

Had? I knew exactly how she felt.
She flicked a lock of hair behind her ear nervously and continued. "He died while we were...I don't really wanna talk about it...You probably have work and I need to find something useful to do so I can earn my stay...what can I do?"
I smiled and tighted the screws on my peg-leg knowing she would spill the beans in her own time. "You can look for Gobber. He'll show you where to go from there."

Eva nodded eagerly as I left the room and slowly pulled herself to her feet. The cold pine wood made her toes tingle, but not as much as the stone floors she was used to. She shoved her thoughts aside and threw on her coat that Astrid had given to her to try and block out a bit of the raw morning air. When she was washed, she tiptoed through to the kitchen where I was making myself some breakfast.
Astrid's breakfasts often didn't stay in the stomach until lunch time, so I more than usual made my own.

"So...Hiccup, where does Gobber work?" she asked tentatively.
I smirked and downed my drink before slipping towards the door. "That's for me to know and you to find out."
And with that, I left the house.

~*~*~*~

As I slipped out into the salty breeze blowing in off the ocean, something hit me in the back his legs and stayed there.
"Whoa! Oh! What are you doing, trouble?!" I laughed running my hand over my little girl's hair as she clutched my leg.
"Giving you a hug!" she giggled, gripping tighter.
I wrapped my hand around her shoulders and squeezed her into my right leg. "Well thank you, Lucy. That hug will get me through the day." I assured her.
Lucy let go and hopped down the steps that lead into our home, counting them as she went, before she stopped in her tracks and started giggling.
"Whoa, Daddy look!" She squealed, thrusting her arms out behind her and gasping into the cool morning air to release a small puff of warm breath.
"Daddy look! I'm a dragon!" she giggled, puffing again and this time letting a out a high-pitched 'Rawk!' like Stormfly.

"Oh wow! Would ya look at that?! What dragon are you? Wait, wait! Let me guess! Are you a...Gronckle?" I asked, raising an accusing eyebrow and resting my hands on my knees.

"No!" she laughed doing the biggest jump her short legs would allow her to do.

"What about a Deadly Nadder?"

She landed on her hands and knees and grinned mischievously. "Uh uh! Last guess!"

I sat down on the middle step and and squinted with a smirk dominating my competitive expression. "Are you...A Monstrous Nightmare?!"

"No, no, no, Daddy! Lucy, plasma blast!" She shouted, throwing herself at me and bringing us tumbling down the steps into a heap on the floor.

"Whoa! Get down! NIGHT FURY!" I pretended to shout and crawled over the grass.

"Stop you! Plasma blast again!" She called, jumping at me and sending me into a thud on my back in the grass.
"Ooooh! He's down and it's ugly! Dragons and Vikings enemies again!" I groaned playfully.
She giggled ecstatically before I lifted her up and spun her around, her legs swinging freely through the air.
"Whoa! I'm flying!" Lucy squealed, thrusting her arms out to the side like she had wings before squeezing her eyes shut and giggling as motion sickness took its toll.

I drew to a stop and slipped her under my left arm. "Can I be a dragon?!"

"Yeah! We can be a Zippleback together and make one dragon with two heads and one body!" she cheered, counting it out on her fingers.
"Yeah that's right! Okay, you be Barf and start. Barf Gas!" I instructed.
She gasped out the entire capacity of her lungs and I clucked my tongue pretending to make a spark, then Lucy flung her arms up and shouted, "Boooooooom! We blowed it all up, Daddy!" She cheered in celebration.

I laughed freely aloud and lifted my daughter up so she was sitting on my hands, against my chest with her arms wrapped around my neck.
I rubbed my nose against hers and she laughed sweetly, her childish voice making anybody who walked past smile.

"What are you two up to?"

We both looked up in synchronisation to see Astrid leaning on the porch with a knowing smirk on her face and her arms folded.
"You! Viking filth! Attack!" I shouted, running towards her, resting Lucy down on the way.
"Man the fort, Lucy!"
I ran to Astrid and picked her up in my arms, her legs swinging over one arm and her head over the other.
"Hiccup! Put me down!" she protested, angrily, but still a grin dominating her face.
I just laughed and spun her around, making her squeal and scrunch her eyes just like her daughter had.
"Oh! If only you spun as smooth as Stormfly!" She groaned, clutching her stomach in hope of stopping the spinning.
I rested her on her own two feet again and drew her close while she regained her balance.
"Thank you...!" she sighed, catching her breath from her small adventure.
I went to kiss her as Lucy jumped up and down at my feet. "Me too! I want hug too!" she pleaded.

I lifted her up and with one arm around my wife and one around my daughter, I hugged them tight, never wanting to let go.
"You two are my favourite dragons!"

A nudge from a jealous Toothless and Stormfly nearly knocked us off our feet.
"Agh! Oh Toothless! And you, bud!" I laughed, scratching his chin.

Stormfly rubbed her head against Astrid and she sighed happily.
"It's all better than we could have ever imagined, Hiccup. You did it, you changed the world for everyone."

~*~*~*~
Did you like this chapter? So, quite a lot of obvious Hiccstrid in this one, but what did you think of Eva's nightmare? Did you expect that? She has a brother? That's another piece of information for the Haddock family to comprehend.
What about Hiccup's relationship with Lucy? Do you think she has the same love of dragons that Valka passed down to Hiccup? Has she inherited that gift that they share? Do you think Astrid thinks that and maybe that's why she's protective of her because she knows what can happen?
Yeah, so, any feedback is greatly appreciated! Thank you for reading!

~ Httyd_2014 <3