Open Borders

Making Connections

Hiccup's P.O.V

I stood in the back, moving every few minutes so no one would notice me or try to come up to me. Like that should be hard. I knew it was a little odd, but I couldn't stop staring at these new people. I was intentionally trying not to look at Astrid, well, my time's Astrid anyway. I was feeling a strange sense of awe and terror just by looking at everyone. I also felt a bit nauseous. I wanted to talk to them, and I really wanted to talk to myself, but those insecure thoughts kept coming back to haunt me.  

Okay, no more waiting, time to take action. 

I slowly started to approach them, one foot in front of the other. It was all too obvious I was beginning to hyperventilate, as I could hear my heart start pounding against my rib cage. Just two more yards and--Thud!--  The next thing I knew I was on the floor, my face resting against the cool stone. I felt something shift on top of me, or rather someone. 

"Sorry mister!" a small but happy voice said.

I turned over to see a small blonde child crawling off of my back. The same child I saw this morning, my son. I looked at him and he looked at me, our identical green eyes locked onto each other. This wasn't the first introduction I had in mind, or any introduction at all for that matter, but I was glad to have gotten somewhere. We sat in a heavy silence for a moment more, just looking at each other before I realized I was staring and probably freaking this poor kid out as I blushed profoundly. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

"Do I know you?" he asked, cocking his head to the side in concentration.

"Nuffink!" a voice called from behind us.

I looked back to see a young girl running towards us, a worried look upon her face. She was the boy's sister, my daughter. She was even prettier up close and now I could see that she had inherited my freckles, only they looked good on her where I had always been self-conscious about mine. She looked at me and clear recognition shone in her eyes. It seems she didn't have as much trouble placing me as her younger brother did.

She pulled the boy close to her as she eyed me warily. I could tell she was nervous, who wouldn't be? I suppose she was afraid of how I would react or maybe she was questioning how much I already knew. Judging by her reaction it must have been pretty obvious that I already knew who she was and how she was connected to me. Was there nothing I could do but scare these children? My children? The thought still rattled my mind.

"Um... hi?" I said carefully as I stood up.

"Hi. You're my dad, right?" She said it so casually, I was a little bit shocked.

"U-um... I guess so? I'm... new to this."

"That's okay!" Said the boy, "We can show you. We can go to the stables and you can meet all the different dragons and we can collect scales and fly with Toothless and-"

All I could do was grin as he took hold of my hand and started leading me to the other side of the Hall. I enjoyed his enthusiasm and it helped me to relax a bit. They both lead me to a corner where no one was sitting and crouched down onto their knees.

"Come out guys! It's just our dad."

And as if out of nowhere, three small figures crept out of the darkness like Change Wings on the hunt. But these were no Change Wings, they were smaller, about the size of a sheep, with black and white scales all over. They kinda looked like... Toothless? Yes, like Toothless but much smaller. They came up to me and sniffed me all over. They were actually pretty cute. If my dad saw these guys, we'd all be in trouble.

"Wh-what? Where did they come from?"

"We brought them. Please don't tell mom!" pleaded Zephyr.

"This is Dart, Ruffrunner, and Pouncer." Nuffink told me while pointing to the individual dragons. The scaly little things were either climbing on us or wresting with each other, as poor Zephyr tried very hard to keep them all quiet. We sat there for quite a while, just playing with the little 'Nightlights' as I was told to call them. Apparently, they were Toothless's offspring, both he and I seem to have found a girlfriend in the future. I shouldn't have been surprised however; these little guys were just as curious as their father. 

The more these kids, my kids, talked to me the more I grew attached to them. Zephyr was a very sweet girl but held a lot of zest like Astrid, though she loved to draw and spent most of her time with dragons like me. Nuffink  tended to rush into thing headfirst like I did but was strong like his mother was. One thing was for sure though, they had both been cursed with my curiosity. They asked a lot of questions and when telling me of their adventures it usually started with 'I saw this', or 'I went looking for that'. 

I was looking back at my older self and continued to wonder. What if he doesn't like me? Then what? Zephyr seemed to notice my hesitations however, as she looked up at me, offering an encouraging smile.

"You want to meet him, don't you?"

I was a bit surprised that she caught on so quickly but nodded none the less. 

"I guess I'm just worried about what he'll say."

"Who? Dad?" Nuffink asked. "Don't worry about him, he wants to meet you too you know."

I didn't know that. Somehow that made me want to meet him even more. I looked over to him again only this time he was looking at me as well. His eyes bore into mine, and mine into his, and as if I hadn't already, I knew then and there that this was going to be an adventure.

Older Hiccup's P.O.V

I was discussing Night Furies with Gobber over a mug of mead by the fire pit. It was a bit strange seeing him with two of his limbs still intact (yes Gobber had lost his other leg in my time), and I was trying very hard not to stare. He was understandably fascinated by this new dragon and was anxious to take a look at Toothless's prosthetic. Not that I minded, the tail fin was one of my greatest inventions. 

However, I wasn't paying much attention to Gobber at the moment, I was looking past him at my children and their new friend. Yes, I was well aware that they had smuggled the dragon cubs in and no, I wasn't going to mention it. I knew this person my kids were with; he was all too familiar for me not to. But it wasn't until he looked over and our eyes locked that I realized, I had found someone other than Toothless whose soul reflected my own.