The Great Beyond

Chapter 64: Searching for Oswald... and Chicken (Reign)

              "Come on, Reign!" Hiccup groaned.

I smirked at him, admittedly enjoying the turmoil I was causing him just a little bit. I had just received a Terror Mail from Berk, requesting that I come there with Hiccup to make sure his robes for the wedding looked all right on him. The thing was, Hiccup hadn't been allowed to see my dress, and wouldn't be until the actual union ceremony itself, something he'd been swift to point out when I read the request aloud to him.

"I just don't understand why you get to have a say in whether or not my robes work for the ceremony, but I don't get to see this dress you, Astrid, and Ruffnut have been gushing about for the past couple of weeks!"

I dropped the letter onto the table and moved closer to him.

"Well, for starters, Berkians are about the most superstitious people I've seen, so if you see me in my dress, no doubt they're going to think we're cursed after that." He rolled his eyes and tried to walk away, but I grabbed onto his wrist, pulling him back toward me. "Besides, if it makes you feel better, I was planning on writing back that I trust you and the seamstress and don't want to see your robes until the union ceremony." Though he hadn't completely gotten over it, that at least piqued his attention. Smirking, I pushed myself closer to him, our noses touching. "Besides, I don't think the fun part is while you're in the robes, so what does it matter, anyways?"

As Hiccup's face flushed red, I pressed my lips against his, officially dissolving the tiny spat. He rested his arms around my waist while I placed mine on the back of his neck.

Suddenly, the door flew open, causing Hiccup and I to panic and jump apart. I kept my eyes trained to the ground, embarrassed, and began to move across the room, one of my hands messing with my ring.

"Uh, is everything okay?"

I snapped my head up at that voice, overwhelmed with joy when I saw my brother standing in the doorway. Sure, he hadn't announced that he was coming, but it was still a huge relief to see him alive. Recently, he and Heather had resumed looking for our dad, but since she'd told me that, I hadn't heard anything from them, leading me to fear the worst.

"Dagur! Oh, gods, I'm so glad you're okay." I took large strides over to my brother, pulling him into a hug.

"It's good to see you, too, sis."

"What, uh—What brings you to the Edge?"

From Sleuther's saddle bag, he removed the brown, leather diary I recognized, holding it out for me to get a look at.

"Heather and I have been following Dad's diary to try and figure out where he is," he sighed. "The problem is, so far we've only ended up at dead ends, or nearly getting ourselves killed. I tried to talk Heather out of continuing to follow whatever clues we've been trying to decipher, but you know our sister." I nodded, my fingers tightly gripping the leather covers. "If she keeps following this diary, she's gonna get killed. She's become reckless. And I don't mean that in a cool, swashbuckle-y kind of way."

I finally worked up the courage to crack the journal open, flipping through Dad's writing and sketches. A little smile worked onto my face as I took a glance, realizing that my affinity for drawing hadn't come out of nowhere.

"I don't know if you've noticed, but people in our family can get a little fixated on things." I exchanged a sly glance with Hiccup, shaking my head. "Like, ruling an archipelago, controlling a Skrill, killing you and Hiccup."