The Second Dragon Rider || Eret son of Eret ||

13. Welcome Home

In the academy, Astrid had finished teaching her class. She was busy reviewing the planner for tomorrow's class when she heard the rest of the gang come in. Snotlout came in rubbing his back after a sore day of testing new weapons; Fishlegs came in rubbing his tires eyes and even the twins looked exhausted for once.

"Rough day huh?" She said to everyone.

"Yeah no kidding." Fishlegs groaned and flopped down to lay against Meatlug.

"I'm sore from weapon testing." Snotlout said leaning against a barrel.

"And I'm too tired to even kick Tuffnut." Ruffnut whined collapsing on top of Barf.

"Yeah I am too tired to even fight with Ruffnut at the moment. And Hiccup looks the most tired out of all of us." Tuffnut said gesturing to Hiccup who just walked into the academy.

"You okay Hiccup?" Astrid asked hurrying to him.

"Ugh no i am not exactly okay. I had to deal with Eret. He is going nuts because Skull Crusher disappeared and something was stolen from his home the day he disappeared."

"What went missing?

"A necklace. And my guess is that it's important because he is freaking out about it."

"Well that dragon has been missing for almost a whole month so I get why he is panicked." Snotlout said.

"But why would anyone kidnap a Rumblehorn?" Fishlegs asked. "It's not easy to steal a dragon that will try to track it's way home."

"That's what I would like to know." Eret said walking in. He looked tired but was doing his best not to show it to everyone.

"And what is it with you and that oh-so-important necklace?" Snotlout asked. Eret shot him a look and kicked a barrel that was in front of him. The barrel flew and hit the wall, then ricocheted back and slammed into Snotlout. The twins went into hysterics but immediately shut up when Astrid stared them down.

"It belonged to a girl I knew. I hadn't seen her in two years till seven weeks ago. I wanted her to come back to Berk with me so she can be safe from Drago but she didn't want to come. I swear she can be so pig-headed!"

"How long have you known her?" Astrid asked carefully. Eret's scowl softened and he sat down next to Hiccup and Toothless. Toothless warbled gently and rubbed his head against Eret's arm.

"A few days. I saved her life and-" there was a loud and familiar roar that interrupted him."

"Was that who I think it is?" Ruffnut asked.

"Skull Crusher!" Eret yelled and ran to greet the dragon who had ran into the academy. Skull Crusher playfully knocked him over and licked him all over his face.

"Ewww." Everyone groaned.

"That's most likely not gonna wash out." Hiccup said chuckling.

"Hiccup! Oh there you are." They all turned to see Valka run right into the academy with Cloudjumper beside her. When she reached Hiccup, she was out of breathe.

"Oh hey mom. What did you need?" Hiccup asked steadying his mother.

"I need to show you, all of you, someone I hadn't seen in a long time." She said with a weary smile.

"Okay then, who is this person."

"Well you know how I had been living in the dragon sanctuary all alone for twenty years right? Well I wasn't alone for the first eighteen years. I had someone living with me."

"And who was it?"

"Come on and meet your brother!" She yelled.

A girl emerged from the gate and walked towards them. She had long white blonde hair that was a mix of red and black at the tips and was braided over her left shoulder. She wore a leather skirt that had a slit on the right and some dark grey pants. She had spiked shoulder armor and wore a deep blue shirt with no sleeves with a pale brown one under it and had a hood of grey fur. Beside her walked a Whispering Death. She walked right to Valka and stood by her side.

"This is Skyla. I had raised her since she was a wee babe. For eighteen years she had no contact with any other humans besides me."

"Hello." Skyla said with her bright blue eyes sparkling with excitement.

"Hi Skyla, I'm Hiccup Valka's son but you can consider me as your brother if you want." Hiccup said holding his hand out to shake it.

"Really? Oh my Thor that would be awesome!" She said. And instead of shaking his hand she yanked him into a hug.

"What happened to your arm?" Astrid asked. Hiccup pulled away from Skyla to see that her left arm ended at her elbow.

"Oh I...I lost it to a dragon. I have been trying my hardest to adjust to it. So far I am doing pretty good." She said looking at it. Then she looked up to see Eret behind the others staring at her.

"Eret..." she walked to him and stood right before him.

"You came." He said.

"Well your friend convinced me to come. I was going to leave and find somewhere else to live when I bumped into my mom." She said tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear.

"So you're staying?" He asked hopefully. Skyla gave him a smile.

"Yeah I definitely am. Here I'll stay."

"Well then, " he said with a coy smile and the scooped her up in his arms and swung her around, "welcome to Berk!"

"Welcome!" The rest of the gang shouted. Skyla threw her head back and laughed. She knew then that she had finally made the right choice.