Like No Other (Book 1); A HTTYD Fanfiction

Chapter Twenty-Three

"Hands up!" bellowed the girl who threw open the door. "Don't move or shout or— AAAAAHHH!"

She stumbled backward, staring at him like she'd seen a ghost. And then Epic realized who it was, and he gasped.

"Atrina?" he asked breathlessly.

"What the—?" said another voice. Arshold, Epic realized, now that he was close enough and there wasn't a door between them. But how?

Epic's brother took Atrina's place. Lexa and another girl Epic didn't know crowded next to him, staring at him. Dad peered over their heads at his son.

All was silent for about seven seconds. Epic was numb with astonishment. He didn't understand, couldn't comprehend, wasn't able to—

Lexa spoke first. Breathless. Astonished. Amazed.

Her voice was barely audible, hushed, as she whispered unbelievingly, "Epic?"

No one moved.

"Lexa," Epic breathed, and his frozen features melted at the name. "Arshold. Dad."

Arshold screamed. "Epic!" And that broke the spell.

Epic sprinted forward into the arms of his family. Everything slid into a blur of screaming, laughter, sobbing, and hugs everywhere. Everywhere Epic turned, there seemed to be an amazed, excited face, and every chest he pressed himself up against during the ecstatic embraces was pounding. Epic's own heart was pounding. The exhilaration of it all obscured time, and Epic's family's faces became hazy, the outlines blurred, as he stared at them through unshed tears. Lexa was screaming hysterically, Arshold was laughing and crying at the same time, and Atrina kept reaching out as if to make sure he was really there. Dad didn't cry, but he continued giving Epic hug after wordless hug, squeezing him tight.

It took a while for everyone to calm down. Finally, everyone's shouts died down to sniffles and satisfied sighs, and silence fell.

Epic opened his mouth, but Arshold beat him to it. "How did you do it?" Epic's brother said emphatically. "How did you get in here? How did you find us? How— how—"

"Let's all start at the beginning," Atrina suggested. "OK? Because I'm sure there's a LOT that needs to be said."

"You can say that again," Epic said, smiling at her.

"Oh!" She stared at him. "Did you get my hint? 'It's Sharo'? I'm sure I probably sounded like Sharo was in there, but—"

"No, I got it," Epic assured her. "Eventually. How else would I be here?"

"But what about the paper part?" she asked him.

"I got that part too. Eventually." Epic turned to his family. "I'm 99% sure you have no idea what we're talking about, but it all started when—"

"I already told them, EpicNightFuryofBerk," Atrina interrupted. "Up until the part where we split up. Because it would be pretty hard to update them on what happened after that. Oh, and I forgot to tell them about your dreams." She frowned, her brow furrowing, and chewed her lip. "I wonder how that got past me."

"Wait, what dreams?" Lexa asked.

"I'm sure they're not important," Epic said, really, really hoping that that was true.

"Hopefully," Atrina said, evidently following the same train of thought that he was. "Oh, and what's down the tunnel? In the tree? I would have gone in, but I thought, Hard pass, so I decided to come back and get you, but then... yeah, everything happened."

"What dreams?" Lexa repeated earnestly. "Epic, what's going on?"

"I'd like to know that," he said. "How did all of you guys—"

"What did I say about starting at the beginning?" Dad broke in.

"Fine. Beginning. So— actually, you guys go first," Epic suggested.

"Arshold, it started with you," Dad said proudly.

"All right," Arshold agreed. "Well, it all started with us waiting for you to come on out of the 5T forest..."