When I Come Back

No one.

Astrid

   The chief ripped me from my thoughts with his gasp.

Uh oh.

     "He did it...He did it!" the chief exclaimed.

What?

What did he do?

So it is Hiccup?

   Everyone around us started to cheer. Leaving us teens and the younger kids to look at each other in confusion.

     "Wait, so is that Hiccup?" 

     Stoick turns to me with a proud smile and lets out a laugh of joy, "Hiccup! He's returning in his own ship! With the Haddock color!" 

   Everyone cheers. Yet again leaving the younger generations confused. 

     "What does that mean?" I ask, but my question not being heard over all cheering. 

   The Gang and I squeezed through to the front of the crowd of celebrating adults to watch as the boat slowly approaches the giant heap of rock known as the Hairy Hooligan Isle of Berk. if only he had Toothless with him, he'd get here quicker, but the slow boat pace is actually perfect.

Why am I shaking?

I'm nervous!

What if he doesn't remember us? 

     The chiefs bellowing voice broke me from my thoughts,"My son won the heir competition!! He graduated the top student!!" 

So that's what the red sail means! 

He's showing that he won!

What if he thinks he's too good for us now?

What if he made new friends and doesn't care about us anymore? 

     "Are you serious! little scrawny Hiccup won the heir challenge?!?" Snotlout exclaims.

     "Oh come on Snotlout, I'm sure he's grown." Heather says, rolling her eyes.

     "Doesn't matter if he's grown or not. Hiccup will always be scrawny." Ruff chimes in.

     "Yep. I hate to agree with my sister, but she's right. Hiccup's never going to be big and strong like me." Tuff agrees.

     "I like to think that Hiccup used his brains instead of his brawn." Fishlegs states proudly.

     "That's impossible!" Tuff says.

     "Is it so hard to think that you could actually use your wits to win a competition?" Fishlegs asks, sounding almost offended.

     "Who said he has one." I join.

     "Hey!"

     "Sorry Fishlegs, but I remember when Dagur came back from there. He lost the competition so he set up a replica of some of the courses and test to do them over and over again until he was happy with his results. The challenge was made to test the decision making and physical strength of chiefs during tough times. It equally tests the brain power and brawns of the heirs." Hether informs.

     "It can't be as tough as the Thorston Trials." Tuff says.

   Toothless accidentally bumps into me from all his jumping around in excitement. 

     "Why is this traitor so excited?" Snotlout gestures to the jumping Night Fury.

   "You guys don't really think Toothless betrayed Hiccup, do you?" Heather asks.

     "He betrayed us." I say, "He protected that guy from us. That's betrayal." 

     "So are we going to tell Hiccup about it?" Fishlegs asks.

     "No. He needs to have a happy welcome home." I say.

     "So we're not going to tell Hiccup?" Heather asks.

     "No. Not yet anyway, but when the time comes, I'm going to be the one to tell him." I inform.

     "He's not dying! We're just telling him that his dragon almost killed us trying to protect a total stranger." Tuff points out.

     "He's here!! He pulled up to the docks!" someone among the crowd yells. 

   We watch as the vikings of Berk stampede their way down to the boat holding the newly praised heir. 

     Before heading down I remind the team, "No one tells Hiccup. No one."

   I look at each of them in the eyes before turning and heading down to greet the long missed heir.