Before We Met Again (HTTYD One-Shots)

The Missing Leg

Everyone was asleep on New Berk, all except Hiccup, who was up and working at home on some last-minute work for a meeting the next morning. As he was working, he suddenly heard a creaking noise. He turned around to the direction of the noise, which was the stairs where he just barely caught a figure run up the stairs.

Hiccup sighed before smiling. "Zephyr, is that you?" After a while, the figure walked back down the stairs, revealing it to be Hiccup's 4-year-old daughter. She sat down in the middle of the stairs, holding onto her Night Fury plushie.

"How come you're awake?" Hiccup asked.

"I feel hungry." Zephyr said quietly. Hiccup got up from his seat and went over to a food storage. He took out a small piece of chicken leg and showed it to Zephyr.

"Will this be enough?" he asked her. She nodded, to which he went over to her and gave her the chicken.

"Alright, now you can go to sleep." he said, rubbing her head before heading back to his late-night work.

"Daddy?" Hiccup stopped just as he was about to sit back down.

"Yes, Zephyr?"

"Can I... stay with you, please?" she asked, nervous about how he would answer.

Hiccup thought about it for a bit. "OK, then. I'm almost finished anyway, so you're only staying for a little while. OK?" Zephyr nodded happily in agreement before heading downstairs and taking a seat next to her father. Hiccup continued with his work while she ate her chicken leg and played with her plushie.

As she did, her eyes caught Hiccup's metal leg. She had always wondered what happened to his real leg, but she was worried about what the answer would be. But today, her curiosity got the best of her.

"Hey, Daddy?"

"Yes, sweetie?" Hiccup answered just as he was finishing off his writing.

"What...what happened to your leg?" she asked, pointing towards his prosthetic leg. Hiccup looked at his leg and smirked.

"I never told you, huh?" Zephyr shook her head. Hiccup wanted to wait until she was a bit older to tell her the story, but he understood her curiosity as it was the same as his and obliged to her question.

"If I tell you, will you believe me?" he asked. Zephyr nodded confidently.

He smiled. "I lost it to a big, fire-breathing queen dragon."

Zephyr gasped. "Really?" Hiccup nodded. "How big?"

"Very big. Bigger than this house." he exclaimed.

Zephyr's eyes were wide with wonder, but also with a bit of fear, slightly hiding behind her plushie.

"How did the dragon take your leg?" she asked. Hiccup then processed to tell her about the Battle of the Red Death and how he and Toothless were able to defeat him, but at the cost of his leg. But despite that, the battle made Vikings realise they could live among dragons.

"Wow! That's amazing!" she said excitedly. But then, her smile went away. "Do you miss your leg?"

Hiccup chuckled. "In a way. But this leg isn't that bad either."

Zephyr smiled again before looking at her Night Fury plushie. "Thank you for saving my daddy." she thanked the plushie before going back to playing with it. Hiccup smiled before continuing with his work. After a while, he finally finished his work.

"Right, time to go to bed." he said, stretching his arms, but Zephyr didn't answer. He turned to face her and saw her fast asleep, with her plushie on the floor. Hiccup smiled at this site as he got up and tidied his area. Afterwards, he picked up Zephyr carefully and her plushie and took her to her room.

He placed her on her bed, but before he gave her plushie, he looked at it and smiled.

"Yeah. Thanks, bud." he whispered. He gave it to Zephyr and gave a kiss on the head before quietly leaving the room.