To The End - A Tuffnut Love Story (HTTYD)

7. Welcome to Berk

Iris felt the ground return under her feet after a few minutes of flying. They had landed on a small sea stack off the coast of Iris's home. And although Stormfly was careful to make sure Iris was steady, she immediately fell to her knees.

"What just happened?" Astrid wondered.

Hiccup frowned down at Iris with pity, "they're blaming Iris for the pirate attack."

"But she didn't even have anything to do with it," Snotlout spoke with frustration.

"It doesn't matter," Iris snapped. Finally, she found her strength again and came to her feet. She looked Astrid in the eyes, "thank you for saving me, you didn't have to."

"Are you kidding?" Astrid spoke in disbelief, "no way we'd just leave when we could help you."

Iris looked past Astrid to her island. She then squeezed her eyes shut and turned away, "I've lost everything."

All of the riders felt bad for Iris, even Snotlout. But especially Tuffnut. He hopped off of Belch and walked over to Iris, placing a hesitant hand of comfort on her shoulder. But something caught his eye; something was flying toward them from the island. "I don't think you've lost everything," he assured her.

Iris lifted her head again just in time to see her sister dragon land right before her. With a deep sigh and a tearful smile, she wrapped her arms around the dragon's neck. The dragon made a gentle groaning noise as if to assure her that everything was alright. Then, the dragon hopped away from Iris and pointed her head back to the island.

Iris frowned and shook her head, "I can't go back."

The sand wraith frowned as well and cocked her head. Iris pointed to her then the the island and said, "you should go home."

The dragon looked from Iris to the island, then back to Iris and moaned sadly. But in the end, she didn't fly away.

"Iris," Tuff began, "I think she wants to stay with you."

"She does," Iris confirmed with a small laugh, wiping away a tear with her fist, "stubborn girl." She scratched the dragon's head.

"Huh," Hiccup hummed with a crooked grin, "it seems like your sand wraith is a little more night fury than the rest."

"That's incredible," Fishlegs remarked, "the bond you have with her, Iris..she values it more than her own home."

Iris smiled and watched her sister dragon pounce onto Toothless. The two began to swat at each other playfully. "You can come with us, to Berk," Astrid suggested.

But at this, Iris hesitated, "I don't know...it'd be very different from what I'm used to."

"Oh, come on," Tuffnut pleaded, "you'll love it there, I promise."

When Iris was met with Tuff's wide, baby blue, puppy eyes, she sighed and the deal was sealed, "alright, I'll try it."

Hiccup gave the two a quirky smile before announcing, "alright, then let's go home."

All of the riders climbed on their dragons, but Iris remained awkwardly still. "Uh, Iris," Fishlegs began, "are you gonna get on your dragon?"

"Wha?!" Tuffnut gasped overdramatically, "did you really just ask that? It's considered disrespectful for her to ride a sand wraith." The twin scoffed, "don't you know anything about her culture?"

All eyes were on him, wide with confusion and shock. He looked at the group and asked, "what?"

Before anything could be said, the sand wraith gurgled and gabbed Iris with her teeth. She turned her head and placed Iris on her back before retracting her teeth and giving her a big, toothless grin.

Again, Tuffnut gasped, "ah! She's disrespecting herself!"

"Tuffnut, would you please shut up?" Snotlout asked forcefully.

Iris and the wraith shared a silent conversation. Then Iris looked up and smiled, "apparently, she's open to new ideas." With those final words, the riders were off.

Ruff and Tuff fell back to fly beside Iris. "You doing alright?" Ruff asked upon seeing Iris's face of pure terror.

"I-I've never been up this high," she explained nervously, "or flown this fast."

"Don't worry," Tuffnut spoke loudly to counter the wind, "if you fall I'll make sure to catch you." When he looked back at his sister, she wore a look of horror. "What?" He questioned.

"'If you fall, I'll make sure to catch you'?" Ruff repeated, "since when are you all sappy and weird?"

"You think sappy is weird?" Fishlegs butted into the conversation, "awe man, I knew I was pushing it too hard."

"Good thing I'm too tough to be sweet and sappy all the time," Snotlout triumphed.

Ruffnut groaned and pulled her helmet down over her ears. And for once, Tuff wasn't completely irritated by the boys fighting over his sister.

***

By the time the sun began to rise, Berk was in sight. Everyone landed by the arena and walked their dragons in. Surprisingly, the sand wraith wasn't suspicious at all, just very curious.

"I've never seen so much metal in my life," Iris exclaimed as she looked up at the cage top of the arena, "what is this place?"

Hiccup smiled; it was his turn to show off, "this, is where we train dragons."