The next few days passed very quickly. The official ceremony naming Hiccup as chief was a lot more somber than it should have been. So many Berkians had expected Stoick to merely retire and pass on the chieftainship himself. Without him, it seemed a lot less cheerful, less happy an occasion.

The moment Hiccup was named chief, his life was filled with boring meetings, mindless decisions, and a surprising amount of breaking up fights. Due to his experience running the Academy, he was fairly good at conflict resolution and management but it was still quite frustrating and felt like a waste of time.

He left for his duties early in the morning while Finn and Astrid were eating breakfast and returned late at night as Astrid was tucking Adrianna in to bed. Throughout the day, he sought out his family but was only able to spend a few minutes with them at a time. He didn't know how his father had time to raise him, seeing as Stoick had been made chief before Hiccup was born, but he resolved to find some way to make it manageable.

Before Hiccup knew it, a whole week had passed since Stoick had died. He had made no plans for the twins' fifth birthday (which was getting alarmingly close) and had barely been able to find time for his family. He had performed eight marriages, three funerals, and four welcoming ceremonies. He had stopped a very drunk Hooligan from attempting to lead a rebellion, saved Edgar from falling off a cliff, and had put out a few fires in the Great Hall's tapestries. How Stoick had kept up with all crises without going insane was a mystery.

But the worst moment by far had been nearly two weeks after Stoick's death. Hiccup was trapped in a very long and boring meeting with the council. Astrid woke Adrianna earlier than she would have liked that morning and walked her down to the Ingermans thinking that a play date with Helga would lift her spirits. It was summer at last but this day in particular was sweltering. When she turned to walk back to her house, she half considered taking Finn swimming.

The sun's noonday rays glared down on Berk, heating Astrid's hair so much that her neck felt slick in sweat. As she walked toward the cool sanctuary of her home she was half tempted to take her signature braid down and tie her hair into a high bun. She felt much older when she attempted such a hair style and it felt so much different, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

She lifted her braid off her neck as her feet hit the wooden planks of the bridge leading to her home. A small red head on her front porch caught her attention when it suddenly lifted and then slowly lowered to his knees again. Finn was sitting on the porch. She didn't know when he had plopped himself there, but it had to have been about half an hour ago. He had done the same thing last Thursday. She and Hiccup had talked about it last week, concerned and wondering why their little man spent his entire day, and only one day, sitting on the porch staring at the wooden bridge.

Finn was completely alert as he always was. His keen blue eyes still picked up on the butterfly fluttering past him or his Uncle Snotlout flying overhead on Hookfang. He clearly heard the man call a short stiff greeting to Astrid when she finished crossing the bridge. Finn was acting completely normal. This wasn't like Adrianna's type of flashback when she wasn't entirely there; he was definitely fine. He was choosing to sit on the porch all day today, just as he had last Thursday. Astrid sighed as she approached her son. She needed to get to the bottom of this.

"Finn?"

Finn's head stayed lowered on his knees in a pout but his eyes lifted, giving her the saddest look she had ever seen on him. She saw Hiccup in that look and it pained her heart. She squatted in front of him and brushed his bangs out of his eyes. "What's wrong sweetie? Why are you sitting on the porch all day? You should go play while it is still light out."

Finn looked down at his shoes, his finger smashing ants as they crawled by, and he shrugged. Astrid considered the ants scrambling for cover as their comrades met their demise at her little boy's pudgy digits before she looked back at him. He looked so... forlorn.

"Finn, tell me what's wrong. Please? You can tell me."

Finn breathed a sigh and shrugged again. "I'm just bored."

"Why?"

"Mommy, I'm just bored!" Finn cried indignantly. He was so like his father, so like a stubborn mule when he didn't want to do something. Then again, so was she. She couldn't honestly blame him for being stubborn when it literally ran through his blood.

"Okay." Astrid replied calmly. She thought for a moment. "How about we go to the village? It's hot, but I think we can find something cooling to do. Want to go for a swim?"

Finn considered this before bobbing his head resolutely. She smiled, stood and stuck out her hand, which he gladly accepted. Mother and son walked back across the bridge at a steady pace and strode into the village. People greeted them as they walked by, Finn still a little confused by people's knowing glances when they looked at him these days. It was like he was suddenly more popular now. People always smiled at him and said hello, which was treatment usually reserved for his sister. People had always said hello to him before, but now they seemed to treat him with more... importance. He didn't understand why.

"Mommy?" he looked up at Astrid.

"Yes?"

"Why do people talk to me special now?"

Astrid halted in her steps, slightly confused. She thought for a minute as she searched his gaze to catch his meaning. Then she understood. Now that Hiccup was chief, the villagers took into account that Finn was next in line to be chief. He was the next heir of the tribe. And even at four years old, he wasn't ignorant of that future hope... and responsibility.

The mother crouched in front of him and smiled. "Well," She began, choosing her words carefully. "Now that daddy is chief now, the next person to become chief after him is you, Finn. And people are excited."

Finn's eyes widened. "When?"

"When? Oh! Not for a long time, baby." Astrid fervently prayed this was true.

Finn slumped in relief at that revelation. Then his face screwed in thought. "Why did daddy have to become chief?"

Astrid's mouth dried. "Because... Poppy died. And he was our leader. Now daddy has to be our leader."

Finn's downcast expression told her that she probably should not have brought up his grandfather... but she couldn't have answered that question without doing so. Maybe she should have let it go, changed the conversation. But it was too late now.

She smiled a tiny bit and rested her hands on his arms. "Finn, it's okay. Daddy is going to be a great chief and you will be chief one day too. But that is a long time away."

"It's Thursday." Finn interrupted, looking at the ground by his boots.

Astrid blinked. "What?"

"Today is Thursday." Finn repeated in a short, almost bitter tone. "I always do stuff with Poppy on Thursdays. And... and he never came."

Astrid's heart constricted. That was why Finn had spent the last Thursday sitting on the porch all day, same as today. She, Hiccup and Adrianna performed their usual routines for the day while Finn would stay home and sit on the porch until Stoick would pick him up. They would do everything together on Thursdays—hunt, fish, help villagers, even fly now that Hiccup had finally relented. But now those days were over... and Astrid knew that Finn was finally realizing it.

His mommy's stunned silence only confirmed it. "Poppy's not coming back. Is he?"

His wide blue eyes burned through her soul and she didn't know what to do. She wished Hiccup was here, but he wasn't. He was in a council meeting. She had to do this. She swallowed thickly and quietly replied, "No."

She didn't know what she expected. She had hoped he would cry, fall into her arms while she thought up something wise, important and mostly empty to say. But she didn't expect him to step away with an angry expression growing on his face.

"Finn?" Astrid reached her arms out, but he turned and ran away into the village. "Finn!" She stood and raced after her son, who was getting faster and faster by the day. She could hear him panting ahead of her as he ran, even whimpering something as he did. What was it...

"Poppy... Poppy..." Astrid's heart nearly tore within her. He couldn't be looking for Stoick! He couldn't be! He wouldn't find him... he was gone. And her little precious baby boy just wouldn't accept it.

"Finn! Come here!" she called, trying to catch him. He ran around a curve leading into the village square when she finally managed to grab his arm.

"No! Let go!" Finn twisted out of her grasp and glared at her. She did and he stomped his foot in anger. "I'm trying to find Poppy!" A few people stopped and stared in shock at his angry shout.

"Finn..." Astrid lowered herself to her knees, trying to reign him in, ignoring the sympathetic looks. "Baby, come here..."

"No! I wanna find Poppy!" Finn yelled.

Astrid nabbed his arms and held him there. "Baby, you won't find him. I'm... I'm sorry..." She gasped, trying to not choke up, almost pleading with him to understand. Why? Why did she have to do this? Why should anyone have to do this? "Poppy isn't here, Finn."

Finn's face began to redden and had she been on her feet and not her knees, she would have stepped back in fear. She had never seen him so livid. "Don't lie! Don't lie to me! Poppy is here! I'll find him!"

"Finn please..." Astrid whispered when he turned out of her grasp, tears nearly falling.

Her little boy stopped at the center of the square, turning in all directions. "Poppy! POPPY!"

The villagers stopped in their tasks either to gasp or gape at the boy or pause in silence at the horrid calls of the little boy... no one had the heart to stop him. Many tried to continue on their way or finish their tasks, but Finn's desperate voice only cut through their attempts.

"POPPY!"

Near the edge of the village, Hiccup stopped mid-sentence in the middle of his meeting with council members. They were talking about new designs for the catapults that would make them last longer when he heard it: the agonized voice of his little boy calling for his Poppy... who was gone.

He knew it was coming. Finn had to understand soon, he couldn't continue thinking Stoick was still alive. He just didn't understand at his age that death happened; it was only natural for him not to get it. But he would understand at some point. The agonized shouts coming from his little boy's mouth seemed to put holes through his heart.

Hiccup stared at the village for a few moments, Finn's shouts sounding again and again, growing more desperate with each call. He dry swallowed and faced the council again, looking back down at the plans. He wanted so badly to run to his son, he needed to be there for this... but he had responsibilities here. He didn't want to put work over family, especially at a time like this, but they had already been lenient with him for Adrianna. He needed to stay focused.

"I figured we could dissemble the catapults this coming weekend and rebuild them with new models within the next-"

"Hiccup." Gobber interrupted calmly.

He looked up at his friend with raised eyebrows. Horst, a councilman and good friend of his father's shook his head lightly, compassionately. "Your son needs you, chief. Go to him."

A blank second ticked by before he smiled gratefully. "Thank you. Thank you." He all but turned and leaped off the entire platform, charging into the village in search of his child. He could hear Finn shouting somewhere to someone, if only he could find him faster. He wished he had Toothless with him but the Night Fury always took cover in cold shady places on extremely hot days such as this.

Hiccup rounded the corner leading to the village square and stopped in his tracks. Finn stood in the center of the square, Astrid holding his arms down and saying something to him. He could tell she was trying so hard not to cry, trying so hard to be calm, gentle to her child.

Finn yanked out of her grasp and shouted, "WHY! Why did Poppy have to die! I want to do more stuff with him! It's not fair!" His son's face was bright red, making his blue eyes stand out even more than usual. He stamped his feet, threw his arms down at his hips in such an angry disposition not formerly seen before.

"Baby, we don't know why things happen but they just do. Poppy loved you, don't be upset-"

"It's not fair! Poppy was the only one who did what I like to do! We always did stuff together! I didn't get to say bye to him! He died!"

Hiccup's heart nearly broke as he walked toward them. The villagers scurried through their tasks, eager to give the family (minus Adrianna) some privacy. Finn gave more indignant, angry shouts before turning away to see his father. His eyes widened in fear, remembering that temper tantrums were cause for discipline. He watched Hiccup, waiting for him to make a move.

Hiccup recognized this and slowly squatted to the ground five feet in front of his son. He slowly held out his arms. "Come here, Finn." Finn didn't move and Hiccup smiled a little. "It's okay buddy, you're not in trouble. I just want to talk to you."

Finn angrily shook his head. "Why did Poppy die?"

"Finn..." Hiccup started, but his son cut him off.

"NO! WHY!" Finn stomped his foot.

Hiccup was at a loss for words. He didn't understand the answer to that himself, how could he possibly give an acceptable answer to his son who so badly needed to know? "Buddy, everyone has a time to die. You, me, Uncle Gobber, Toothless... Poppy. Everyone." he gently explained, hoping this was the right thing to say.

"It's not fair!" Finn shouted.

Hiccup nodded. "I know-"

"He should be here!" Hiccup nodded again. "He was supposed to teach me about dragons and hunting and fighting with swords and fun stuff but he died instead! He wanted to die more than do stuff here!"

Hiccup shook his head, noticing Astrid crawling closer behind Finn. "No no, buddy. Poppy didn't-"

"POPPY DID! POPPY DIED AND I HATE HIM!" Finn shouted angrily to the sky, stomping his feet. "Is everyone going to die now? Are you going to die just like Poppy? And mommy and Anna?"

Things were snowballing too fast. "Finn-" Hiccup shortened the five foot gap to two as Astrid was able to rest her hands back on her son's shoulders.

Finn shook her hands off. "Go away! I don't wanna talk to you! I wanna talk to Poppy!"

"Finn, please..." Hiccup whispered. "You can't talk to Poppy..."

Finn reached up and hit his father on the arm, startling both parents. The blow actually hurt a bit; the boy was strong for his age. Finn's eyes widened in shock at what he did. He hit his daddy. That was... that was very bad. He was just so... so angry! He stared into Hiccup's eyes for a moment, which only relayed shock and sadness. He didn't look angry in the least bit. Finn's eyes began to burn and he blinked.

"Why?" he asked, his forehead creasing. "Why did Poppy have to die?"

"Finn..." Hiccup whispered and reached out his arms. This time Finn allowed himself to be pulled in for a tight hug, which Astrid quickly joined by wrapping her arms around them both.

"Why, daddy? Why Poppy? Why?" Finn finally sobbed, tears soaking into his father's tunic.

Hiccup brushed his hand through his son's bright red hair and kissed his temple. "I don't know, buddy. Even mommies and daddies don't know the answer to that sometimes. But I do know one thing," he gently pulled Finn off his shoulder to look him in the eye. "Your Poppy loved you. He loved you so much and he wanted so badly to teach you everything that he could while he was here. He would have loved to teach you more and spend more time with you and Addie." Hiccup gently shook his head with a tiny smile. "Don't be mad at Poppy. Remember the days you spent with him. Don't forget him. You will make him proud one day, I just know it."

Finn sniffed, wiping his right eye with his sleeve. "Just like you?"

Hiccup and Astrid smiled, the latter also wiping her eyes. "Yeah, just like me."

Finn looked down at his shoes and sniffed again. "I'm sorry I hit you, daddy."

Hiccup breathed a laugh and pulled his boy in for another hug. "You're not in trouble, Finn. Sometimes it is okay to hit things." he said gently. "Just make sure you don't hit people next time."

Astrid pushed her face into Hiccup's chest where Finn's face was and kissed his cheek. Finn sat up and hugged her tightly. He wiped his eyes with his free hand and said, "I love you mommy."

"I love you too, Finn." Astrid whispered, holding him tighter to her chest.

Finn smiled a crooked smile because of his tears and looked at Hiccup. "I love you too, daddy."

Hiccup smiled and ruffled his son's hair. "I love you too, Finnster."

"Ah! Daaaaad..." Finn whined, trying to fix his disheveled hair. The parents laughed, though Astrid took note that Hiccup's was less joyful than she would've liked. She knew he wasn't holding back; rather Finn was not the only one who had yet to fully understand what had happening. And she knew it was only a matter of time before Hiccup's resolve finally broke.

Xxx

After Finn's outburst, Hiccup had informed the council and other members of the tribe that he would be taking the subsequent day off to go through his father's things and spend time with his family. Ordinarily this would not have been allowed but, as most of the village had seen the incident with Finn, no one had the heart to stop him.

The next morning, Hiccup used his children's excited gabbing to Lotus and Gobber about dragons and sword fights as a distraction from walking up the hill to his old house. Astrid held his hand tightly in hers, knowing that he was in fact dreading walking through the house. His face still held that blank emotionless look, but she had a feeling (and a secret hope) that this would crumble his resolve. It was a necessary thing that needed to happen soon. It was two weeks after Stoick's death and he still hadn't cried.

The couple walked up the wooden steps and paused in front of the door. Hiccup tried to tune out his children's conversation and focus on the here and now, what he was about to do, but something held him back. A sudden fear gripped him, preventing him from opening the door. But then a light squeeze from Astrid's hand broke the spell and he pushed the heavy oak door open.

Hiccup paused just inside the door, taking in the familiar look and smell of his childhood home. The stone furnace at the hearth, the wooden staircase leading up to his old loft bedroom, the old ornate shields and weapons hanging on the walls—all of it spoke of familiarity. The only thing it lacked was the tall, vast form of his father sitting in his chair on the other side of the room.

The spell was broken when Adrianna suddenly screamed, making him whip around but a grin was on her face as she fled into the house. Finn was on her heels with a frog in his clutches. "Finn, don't you put that in her shirt like last time."

"I won't!" he yelled over his shoulder to his dad as the kids tromped up the stairs, heedless of the racket they created.

The four adults stood silently before Gobber sighed heavily. "Well, let's see what we can find." Lotus joined him as he hobbled across the room toward some bookshelves. Astrid kissed her husband's cheek before walking toward the kitchen area to peruse through Stoick's remaining food and cooking items.

Hiccup looked around dumbly, taking note of the layer of dust covering everything in sight. It bothered him, but that pit in his stomach remained unmoved. Even after two weeks, he still felt nothing. Moving to a trunk on the far side of the room, he wondered if something was wrong with him. He opened the trunk, his thoughts again running rampant of the possibility that he had lost something when he got the news of his father's death. Surely he should have cried by now right? Even better, he should be at least feeling something by this point.

His thoughts tapered off when he came across a thick leather bound book lying underneath a few extra tunics. He lifted the book and opened the first few pages curiously, surprised to find... dried poppies. He was confused for a few moments, wondering if maybe they were his mother's... but then he smiled a bit, remembering the first time Stoick had been dubbed "Poppy". He couldn't believe such a big strong man would save the flowers his nearly one-year-old granddaughter had woven in to his beard all those years ago. He placed the book by the door, thinking that Adrianna would want to keep it. She had looked so proud of handiwork when Stoick had dropped the twins off. The man had looked completely ridiculous with poppies all over his beard but it hadn't mattered to the tiny girl with whom he was so enamored.

He looked upstairs to his old bedroom, which was now filled with the sounds of his children running around and making a lot of racket. Stoick had moved into it when Hiccup had gotten married. Thornado occasionally slept in it but he wasn't there now. In fact, the Thunderdrum hadn't been seen since the funeral.

Thinking that he would need to break up an inevitable fight between his children, he walked up the stairs, the others at his heels. Finn had finally let the frog go and was watching Adrianna hop onto the bed to get away from it. He looked thoroughly pleased with himself. Astrid stepped forward and caught the frog, taking it downstairs to let it go. Finn looked slightly peeved at first but soon decided it wasn't worth fighting.

"All right, you two, calm down." Hiccup said, a tiny smile on his face. He walked up to the bed and lifted Adrianna from it. "Addie, would you go see if Poppy left anything in the closet that we might want to take home?"

The girl nodded and trotted over to the closet, Finn following closely. Now that the children were distracted, Hiccup got on his knees next to a nightstand and pulled open a drawer. He vaguely heard Astrid come back into the room and go over to a pile of fish bones near the door, no doubt left over from Thornado's most recent late night snack.

"Oh... here it is." Gobber said from the other side of the room. "Should have figured he'd hide it here." Hiccup turned around to find Gobber extract a large book from a dresser drawer. "Right with the clean skivvies. I guess he did take my advice after all."

Hiccup raised an eyebrow at this implication but decided he really didn't want to know. Astrid turned to look at the book and her eyes widened. She had only seen it once before, had completely forgotten about that day... but there it was. What was once an empty book cover was now filled with papers carefully bound together. The cover of the book was black with silver lettering. Stoick had even painstakingly painted the sides of the book silver so that when it was closed, it shined and stood out from the other books. She had no idea he would be this thorough. No wonder it had taken five years.

"What is it?" Hiccup asked after a few moments of silence. "I've never seen that book before."

"That's because he hid it from you. Wanted it to be a surprise." Gobber said, still staring at the book in his hand, impressed with its intricate detail. "Finished it the morning he died. I don't even know how long he was working on it."

"Five years." Astrid supplied. "I saw it a few days after he started. He told me to keep it a secret and I was pregnant and distracted so I just... forgot."

Hiccup wasn't paying very much attention to anything anyone was saying. He had his eyes fixed on the book. The last gift he would ever receive from his father. He didn't even know what it was yet but his heart was pounding. It was like Stoick was reaching out beyond the grave, giving him one thing to remember him by, something completely irreplaceable that he had spent five years of his life creating just for him. When that book was begun, Hiccup hadn't known he was the father of twins. While Stoick was working on it, Hiccup had been busy with diapers and runny noses and tears and... and he'd barely made time for his father. And the whole time, Stoick had never let on that he was working on it, never said a word.

He shook his head. He didn't want to accept it. If he touched it, Stoick would really, truly be dead. These would be his final words. What if they didn't mean anything? What if they left him feeling worse than he already felt? He couldn't take that chance.

Lotus sensed something and immediately walked across the room to where Finn and Adrianna were watching with mild interest, the closet's contents forgotten. "Come on, you two. Let's go look around downstairs." she said, helping both children up and gripping their hands.

As soon as the door shut behind them, Gobber stepped forward. "He wanted you to have it, Hiccup. He was looking forward to giving it to you."

Hiccup sat down on the bed and shook his head. "I can't." he said. The ball of emotion deep within stirred slightly. "I... I can't."

Gobber hobbled forward and placed the book into Astrid's hands. She sat down next to her husband, stroking his back as gently as she could. She then placed the book on her lap so that Hiccup could read its cover. The sharp intake of breath informed her that he had.

"A new one?" he whispered, reaching with trembling hands to slide the book onto his lap. "Dad... he made a new one?"

He hadn't known what he had expected but it wasn't this. But now that it was in front of him, he couldn't think of anything else it could possibly have been. Stoick had seen him scribbling notes into the old one, watched him cross out inaccurate information and squeeze in corrections. It was time for a completely updated Dragon Book and Stoick had taken it upon himself to write it for him.

Curiosity got the better of him as he slowly opened the book. There was a forward about Bork's initial work... about how Hiccup had changed the way Vikings viewed dragons forever. He smiled slightly at his father's description of him. Impetuous, stubborn, utterly brilliant but also completely mad. But, at the same time, imaginative and kindhearted. Was that how Stoick had seen him? Mad? Hiccup shook his head, the smile widening. Yes, he supposed, his father probably did think he was a bit mad. But he had loved that about him. And he had thought he was brilliant? He had never said it...

He flipped through a few pages, reading the incredibly thorough, updated information about each dragon. Even the ones Hiccup and his friends had discovered after the first Dragon Book had been written. The Typhoomerang entry was slightly sparser when it came to details but it had every fact they knew and... Hiccup blinked a few times just to make sure he was reading correctly... and it had comments that he had made about it. Little asides about its attributes, even sarcastic jokes he'd made while dealing with them. He flipped through the rest of the book and found it filled with his own words, comments he'd completely forgotten that he'd made. The entry on the Night Fury even had a quote from Adrianna when she had been helping her Poppy bathe Toothless one day. And the entry on the Thunderdrum had a quote from Finn the day he'd met Thornado. The page on the Deadly Nadder was filled with Astrid comments. It was like Stoick had written down everything he and the others had ever said about each dragon and put them in as little asides and jokes, making the book much more interesting. He had even included space for additional comments for each dragon and blank pages at the end just in case they ever found a previously undiscovered breed or class.

As he skimmed over some of the last pages, the words became very blurry. He felt like the emotional ball in his stomach had burst. Everything was flowing upward, causing his eyes to burn more painfully than ever before. He quickly shut the book, not wanting to smudge any ink, just as a tear finally made its way out of his eye. Astrid tightened her arm around him and placed her other hand on his arm. Tears streamed down his face.

"H-he was proud." Hiccup whispered shakily, his whole body trembling. "He was r-really p-proud."

His back hunched over and he finally slid to his knees on the floor, his shoulders heaving with sobs that he was finally able to release. He clutched the Dragon Book in both hands, hugging it to his chest. How he wanted to hold his father one more time, to thank him for everything, to tell him how much he loved him and how much he had meant.

But he couldn't. All he could do was hold the Dragon Book and let out every little thing he had felt. His face was wet with his tears but they continued to pour out of his eyes like a waterfall, dripping onto his lap. Astrid got down on her knees next to him and put her arms around him. He felt another hand on his back and knew that Gobber was doing his best to comfort him even though there really wasn't much anyone could do. He heard a coo and felt Toothless gently brush against his back. But nothing could make him stop now that he had started. His heart was pounding against his ribs... it felt like it had been squeezed tight over the last two weeks but it was finally loosening up as he let out everything he had been feeling.

"Dad." he whimpered, his knuckles growing white, his shoulders getting tired from the heaving sobs he couldn't stop. "Dad... dad... I'm sorry."

Astrid knew there was nothing she could do. Her husband had only cried this hard once before and she had been powerless then too. All she could think to do was to hold him as tightly as she could and hope that the tears would run out eventually. While he had been screaming and sobbing loudly the first time he had broken down like this, he didn't do that this time. His crying was silent. Somehow, it was even more heartbreaking to hear him hold back the howls of misery she knew must be stirring within him. But she knew he was doing it for the children downstairs. Even in his anguish, he was putting them first.

Of course, Adrianna always had a sixth sense about her father. And she felt something in the pit of her stomach a few minutes after she had gone downstairs. The feeling spread until she couldn't ignore it anymore. She waited for Lotus' back to turn before sneaking back upstairs so she could make sure her father was okay.

She heard the sniffling halfway up the stairs and quickened her footsteps. If someone was crying, she needed to comfort them. She reached up and opened her Poppy's bedroom door. Her parents' and Gobber's backs were to her. Her daddy was hunched over, sniffling quietly, and she knew that it was he who needed her most. She tiptoed forward and was slightly alarmed by the sight of his face. Bright red, tears raining onto his lap... his sobs were nearly inaudible but she could tell they were coming from him.

"Daddy?" she said in a soft voice, wringing her hands in front of her.

He looked up at her, his bright green eyes looking brighter than ever in contrast to the whites of his eyes' bloodshot appearance. It was almost like they were glowing. She fell to her knees in front of him and threw her arms around his shoulders. If he was going to cry, he needed someone to cry on, needed something other than his own lap to catch his tears. She could now feel droplets of water on her back, trickling downward through her shirt, but she tightened her hold on him and let him cry. She knew that wiping away his tears would be ineffective. And, though she didn't know how, she also knew that he needed to cry. As much as she hated seeing it, she wasn't going to stop it.

Hiccup was so thankful for his daughter's small gesture. She didn't shed a tear as she held him, almost like she had decided it was his turn to be miserable and her turn to comfort him. The thought made him cry harder, overwhelmed with emotion at the loss of his father, the stress of being chief, the love of his family... he couldn't take it anymore. He didn't think he would ever stop crying now, not with everything crashing down around him. There was so much to do. So much stress and frustration. So many moments he would miss. So much he wanted to tell his father that he couldn't...

But even through his anguish, he felt relieved. The ball of emotion in his stomach had finally gone away. He could feel again, cry again... maybe even laugh again. It wouldn't be today but it would happen eventually.

His grieving wasn't even close to over; he knew he wasn't okay... but he would be.