A Man and His Dragon
Summary: Stoick and Thornado reunite
Halfway through the flight back home, Hiccup noticed the gang was being followed. He took out his spyglass and turned around to get a better look at who was behind them. Roughly fifty yards away were four familiar shapes. The dragon rider just smiled and faced forward again, thinking, Dad's going to love this.
As the gang landed in the town square, cheers erupted in celebration of their latest victory. Hiccup dismounted Toothless and handed the King of Dragon's egg off to one of the hatchery hands. "Keep this safe until the Wing Maidens arrive. They know someone who can care for the egg."
The hatchery hand took the egg and headed to the caves.
"Hiccup," a voice called out from the crowd. Hiccup turned toward the voice and saw Gobber pushing past everyone, grumbling at them to make way.
"What's wrong, Gobber?" Hiccup asked, feeling his heart drop.
"You need to head home. It's your father," Gobber replied.
The Rider didn't wait for an explanation and broke into a run towards his house, Toothless and Astrid hot on his heels, er, heel. He had forgotten all about the four figures that were following them and hadn't bothered to warn the villagers. He needed to see his father.
Hiccup burst through the door, fearing the worst as a million thoughts ran through his mind. The fears melted away almost immediately when he saw his father sitting up in his bed, awake. Gothi was tending to him, removing the many bandages.
"Dad?" Hiccup asked, hoping his eyes weren't playing tricks on him as he stepped over to the bed.
"It's okay, Hiccup," Stoick said, his voice just above a harsh whisper. He placed his hand on Hiccup's shoulder and gave it a small squeeze. "Everything is okay now."
Hiccup was at a loss for words. His knees felt weak as exhaustion and relief washed over him. He sat down in the nearby chair.
"Gothi, can you give us a minute?" Stoick requested looking over at the elderly healer.
Gothi gave a small bow and left the house to give the Haddocks their privacy.
"How are you feeling, Dad?" Hiccup managed to ask.
Stoick rolled his shoulders as if he were getting ready to stretch. "A bit sore, but this is nothing compared to when Gobber and I were trapped on an island full of wild boars and no weapons. That was a bloody mess; I barely made it out with my arm intact."
The younger Haddock gave a small chuckle. It was a story he had heard a million times, and he looked forward to hearing it a million times more.
"Gobber told me you had to leave on an important mission," Stoick said. "Tell me what happened. Were you successful?"
Hiccup smiled. "Yeah, yeah we were." He told his father about how they went to Vanahiem, chased after some flyers in order to keep the place a secret, and how they found the final Dragon Eye lens. He spoke of what went down on Dramillion Island. He left out the part about almost getting impaled with a harpoon; that was a story of a different day. When he finally got around to what happened on Berserker Island, he lit up as he remembered the four followers. He quickly finished the story, leaving out several key parts.
".... And Helga took the eggs down to the Hatchery cave to wait for the Wing Maidens," Hiccup finished.
"I think you skipped several parts," Stoick quipped. "But that's okay. You can tell me later. For now, help me get up. A chief shouldn't be laying in bed for to long."
Hiccup obliged, seeing no sense in arguing. Besides, how else was he supposed to show his father the four followers, who were surely here by now?
Leaning heavily on his son, they stepped outside only to be met with a dragon standoff. Skullcrusher was guarding the Haddock home, roaring at four Thunderdrums. Toothless stood between the dragons, doing what he could to stop the foreseeable bloodshed.
It took Stoick a minute to register what was happening, but when he looked into the eye of the older Thunderdrum, everything fell into place. "Skullcrusher, stand down," he ordered his dragon. "They mean us no harm."
Skullcrusher obeyed but clearly wasn't happy about it. He stomped over his stable and laid down with a smokey grunt. Toothless followed the grumpy dragon and butted his head against his. This seemed to help the Rumblehown calm down a bit.
Stoick pushed off of Hiccup and limped forward toward the older Thunderdrum. "Hello, old friend," he greeted in a wistful tone as he helped out his hand. The Thunderdrum stepped forward and rested his snout against the chief's open hand.
"Thornado," Stoick gleefully boomed as he got down his knees and embraced the dragon as best as he could. Thornado nuzzled in, purring loud enough to shake the ground around them. The three younger Thunderdrums took this as permission to start pouncing on the duo.
Despite how sore he was, Stoick couldn't help but laugh. His old dragon had come back and brought the kids with. After a while, the younger dragons stopped their playful attack and gave Stoick and Thornado some much-needed space.
Hiccup stood to the side and just watched as the pair reconnected. Astrid came up next to him and placed a kiss on his cheek. "You knew they were coming, didn't you?"
"Yeah," Hiccup admitted. "I meant to tell you guys when we landed, but Gobber kind of interrupted me."
"You can make it up to me later," Astrid teased. "Roast boar and a shoulder massage."
Hiccup threw his arm over her shoulders. "Anything for you, mi'lady. But for now, I think we need to keep on these guys."
Stoick lay flat on his back as Thornado just rested his head on his former riders chest. Both content to be together again.
