Sacrifices

Haddock

Once everything had calmed down, the trio sat down and had a chat. Class had been canceled so they weren't in a huge rush to get back. Twenty minutes had passed and Astrid had fixed the lock on Oakley's door.

"So, Oak..." Hiccup said as they headed towards the cafeteria to meet up with the others. "I'm having a birthday party on Saturday. It's just gonna be a slumber party with the gang."

"Slumber party?" Oakley whispered as she turned to Astrid.

"We all camp out in his living room. There's food and movies and Heather always likes to scare the guys with spooky stories." Astrid whispered in response.

"Oh, that actually sounds kinda fun."

"Oh and the dogs come too." She added.

"You could bring StarGazer." Hiccup offered.

"Actually..." Astrid sang.

"Oh, right. My lizard shoots fire when she's scared. So, maybe not." Oakley declined politely. "So, you're birthdays on Saturday?" Oakley asked.

"Well, actually it's on Thursday, but we're having the party on Saturday." He explained.

Oakley halted in her tracks.

"This Thursday?" She questioned. "February 28th?"

"Yeah, why?"

Oakley glanced between Hiccup and Astrid before grasping Hiccup's arm and rolling up his sleeve to find a bracelet, almost identical to hers.

"Hiccup, where did you get this?" She interrogated.

"It was a gift from my mom before my parents split up. Why?"

"They split up when you were little? About three?" She asked.

"Yeah, that sounds about right. How did you-"

Oakley spun around and headed in the opposite direction without a word. The others followed her until they reached their History class.

"Oak, what are we doing here?" Hiccup wondered as they stepped into the classroom.

"Mr. Cooke? Can I ask you something?"

"Of course, you can dear." Her history teacher nodded.

"You know morse code, right?" She checked. He nodded. "I was wondering if you could translate this." She took off her morse code bracelet and held it out. The man took a moment to examine the item, jotting it down on his paper.

'Sister'

Oakley gasped.

"Thank you, sir." She said as she backed up to the door and ran back to her apartment.

"Here we go again." Hiccup sighed.

***

"Oak, what are you doing?" Astrid wondered as she rummaged through an old trunk.

"Hiccup, how did you learn about Night Fury's?" She asked.

"Just an old book of my dad's. It had been in our family for generations but he gifted it to my mom when she left, he wasn't all that interested in dragons."

"And it's written in runes, correct? Dating back to around 900 A.D?" She questioned.

"Okay, that's starting to get freaky. How do you know all this?" He furrowed his brow curiously. She finally found what she was looking for and spun around with a large brown book in her hand.

"Did it look a little like this?"

He just nodded, with his eyes open wide.

"Actually... it looked exactly like that." He confirmed.

"Hiccup, this was my mothers," Oakley explained. "She split up with my dad when I was three and I was taken 13 years ago on February 28th."

"Wait, but you said that you were taken on..." Astrid's eyes widened in realization. "...Your fourth birthday." She muttered. "Oh, my Thor."

"I'm still not getting it." Hiccup had never been more confused.

"You have a note on your nightstand... just a few words..." Oakley told him. "What does it say?" Hiccup just shook his head in disbelief. "Hiccup, what does it say?" She repeated.

"Be brave..." He mumbled.

"Hold onto each other..." Oakley added.

"Never let go." They said together. Oakley picked up a small piece of paper from her nightstand, containing those last three words.

"What? No." Hiccup shook his head. "There's no way. We can't be related. I mean... I'm all... and she's..."

"A hiccup." Astrid glared.

"She's my sister." He whispered. Astrid nodded.

"Seems like it."

"You're my sister." He turned to Oakley, who was deep in thought.

"You always said you wanted a sister." Astrid reminded him.

"Yeah." He remembered. "Oak, are you okay?"

"Yeah..." She said as she smiled down at the paper in her hand. "I-I just..." She let out a long sigh before dropping the note and racing into Hiccup's arms. He took a second to process it before wrapping his arms around her and hugging her back. All was quiet as a glow of yellow magic swirled around them, causing a strong breeze. The glow inched its way closer and closer until they were both surrounded by a glowing gold aura, which faded as they parted.

"Woah..." They all awed.

"So, about that party...?" Hiccup mentioned.

"I'll be there."

***