Once again I would like to thank all of those who have been reading this story and leaving reviews, its been a real pleasure writing something for HTTYD, I have a few more ideas for additional stories set within this world but you'll just have to wait for those as I have a few of my other ones that I want to complete before, I can even think about getting those started. This is the last chapter for this story, so I hope all of you readers enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the rights, to the characters, movie, etc.

The responsibilities of being chief

Epilogue

It had been a fortnight, since Hiccup had replaced his father, Stoick the Vast, as the chieftain of the Hooligan tribe and with the reconstruction of the village and winter preparations progressing well, he was finally able to properly grieve the death of his late father, fortunately he had the unwavering support of his wife and recently returned Mother to help him through it. Now that he was one in change, everyday become a new learning experience for him, as Gobber told him of the seemingly endless duties that a chieftain was responsible for around the village, Hiccup finally understood why his father always wore the hard, stony expression he did; it just wasn't directed solely toward him, making sure that the village ran smoothly day in and day out, was a never ending stream of small tasks and the trouble which he, more often than not, caused during the raids surely only made his dads job even harder for him but now that they had peace with the dragons that was one task that the young chief was elated, that he didn't have to deal with, for obvious reasons. Now as the newlyweds sorrowfully packed away Stoick's belongings away in a large storage trunk, on this Saturday afternoon, Hiccup stopped as he came upon a small wooden box and carefully picking up the box in his hands, walked over toward the bed and sat down atop its edge. Setting down the thick brown fur cloak that she had just finished folding upon the pelts of their bed, and walking around to the other side sat down beside her husband to see what he was looking at. Turning to look into the face of his lovely wife as she took a seat next to him, a few moments later, Hiccup showed her the wooden box that he came across in a weapons chest that had belonged to his late father.

"I wonder what's inside?" Astrid said reaching out for Hiccup's hand with her own and tenderly lacing their fingers together.

"I don't know, my love, and honestly don't think I'm ready to know that just yet," Hiccup said staring down at the small wooden box resting upon his lap, while countless thoughts of its possible contents formed in the depths of his mind.

"Well, what ever it is, it can't be very big," Astrid noted measuring the item sitting atop her husbands lap with her eyes, "So I think that we can exclude the possibility of it being a weapon of some kind because a box that size wouldn't even fit a useable dagger, so more than likely its probably just some important papers or something like that. Besides its not as if you have to open it, right this instant if you're feeling uncomfortable about doing so, babe."

"Yeah true enough but what if its something that can help be understand my new role as tribe leader better, than it would be ok to open it, right," the young chief reasoned, subconsciously rubbing the fingertips of his free hand over the boxes hinged lid without realizing it before plucking up all the courage that he could muster at the moment and with a sigh escaping his mouth, slowly eased the lid open revealing the contents hidden inside.

Slipping the hand that Astrid held onto out of her grasp, a few moments later, and reaching inside the open wooden box with it, pushed a tanned leather pouch out of the way and felt his eyes widen as they feel upon a folded letter bearing his name underneath it. Removing the letter from the depths of the box, Hiccup placed the box and the rest of it contents down in the open space to his right and unfolding the thick piece of paper began to read what was written in it by the candle light which lit their bedchamber. The letter read as follows;

'Dear, son, I know that our relationship has always been a rocky one but I couldn't ask for a better child than you, my boy. And a prouder father I could not possibly be especially when I see the strong Viking that you have grown into but there comes a time in every parents life when their child must leave home and learned to be independent, but lets be honest, my boy, you've had that covered ever since you were just a wee lad and I'm sorry that I wasn't as good a father as I should have been to you growing up. I've made my share of bad decisions over my lifetime but my biggest and most unforgivable was trying to make you into something that you weren't, you whom so strongly remind me of your dear mother. Had I just been a few seconds quicker that night, than she would still be here with us and I have no doubt that she is just a proud of the peace that you have brought to our homeland as much as I am, son, and all of your heroic deeds since.' Hiccup stopped reading to wipe away the tears that were beginning to pool in the corners of his eyes from reading his late fathers words with his thumb before resuming reading from the spot where he had stopped to dry his eyes, 'Now that you're all grown up and are well on your way to one day having a family of your own, unless my eyes have been play an elaborate trick on me over these past five years. However before I hand over me rule over to you, I want to know that our linage will be safe and don't think that I haven't noticed how close you and Astrid have gradually become or how deeply in love both of you are with one another. Now before you start freaking out on me and start saying things like you're not ready to be chief and such, just relax because I have decided that you can gradually take things over from me, Son, at your own pace. For now I only ask that you, seriously give some thought on proposing to the pretty and charming girlfriend of yours, since a woman the likes of her only comes around once in your lifetime, and take it from someone with a wealth of experience, the love of a good woman is to be treasured and her warmth kept close to ones chest. Now I would have loved to sit down and talked this over with you in more detail but as is our way both of us are just too busy doing our own thing to make time for it, so that's how come I've decided to write in down in this letter, just in case the worst should happen to me some day and you need to step up to take my place, if you haven't already done so by such time. Well I'm off to the dragon races, I'll be sure to wish your special lady, good luck on your behave in today's event.'

Lowering the letter and allowing it to slip form his in-between his fingers, to slowly float down toward the floor Hiccup hung his head in shame. Onthe morning that his Dad had attempted to sit him down and have this serious conversation with him for the first time in years, it wasn't about him taking over the chiefdom that he had wanted to discuses after all but instead of actually taking the time to listen to his father for once, Hiccup would have rather went exploring and charting new islands with Toothless. In the back his mind Stoick's letter stirred up several emotions, none of them good, as the memory of the last time that the two had attempted to have a really serious talk, dragon training, came to the forefront of his thoughts and how very one sided that conversation had been for them even thought he tried his best to come up with every possible excuse that could get him out of the situation and failing at it miserably, however unlike that time when it had been his now late father whom was being the stubborn one, this time it was him filling that role; not that he really said much or gave his father much of a chance to but as it was so much more often with him, than most of the other Vikings on the isle, his actions spoke greater volume than his words ever could. Having been reading Stoick's letter over her husbands shoulder, Astrid tried to find the right words to comfort him at the moment but they either escaped her completely or would get could in her throat when she attempted to speak them. Not once had it ever occurred to her that she might just be the subject matter, which his father had wanted to talk about earlier that morning as they joked about the all to brief conversation; since he was the heir to the chiefdom, it was naturally the first thing that came to either ones mind, not the prospect of their marriage which as Stoick's letter now clearly stated was the real reason that the Chief had wanted to talk with his son that morning, with the possibility of Hiccup taking over the chiefdom one day coming secondary. Reaching down and collecting the letter from the floor, a few moments later, the blue eyed blonde neatly folded it back up and tightly holding it in her left hand nestled against her husband's side, leaning her head lovingly into the side of his bowed neck.

Gradually beginning to feel his down trodden spirits lighten as Astrid's warmth steeped in to his body, Hiccup felt the heaviness and regrets deep within in his heart ebb away. Slowly raising his bowed head, a few moments later, and turning it ever so slightly in the direction of his wife, tenderly kissed her upon the temple. Feeling a light smile find its way to his mouth as it rubbed over her creamy skin, Hiccup reached across her body with his right hand and gently prying his late father's letter out of her hand, careful not to tear or rip it in anyway, the chieftain withdrew his hand clutching the folded piece of thick paper between his fore and index fingers. Dropping it back inside of the wooden box that he had found it in, the auburn haired young man shut the box lid while breaking his tender loving kiss. Flashing her hubby a soft warm sideways smile, mere seconds later, Astrid leaned in and gave him a quick peak on the cheek before suggesting that they take a break to get some fresh air.

Concernedly watching Hiccup out of the corner of her eye as he picked at the food on his plate disinterestedly, a little while later, Astrid could just tell by the distant look in his usually bright eyes that Stoick's letter was still bothering him. She could only imagine the thoughts that were swirling around inside of her husbands head over the letters shocking revelations and decided that the best way for her to help him get over any doubts that may have taken root, was to gently remind him of all the good that he had done for the people of Berk by showing them the inherently calm nature of dragons when they were treated with understanding and respect over blind hatred. Downing the last few dregs of meade in the bottom of her tankard and finishing the last few bites from the quarter chicken on her plate, the blue eyed blonde wiped her hands clean over her covered forearms before gently placing a hand upon his arm. Sheepishly smiling at Astrid as he turned to face her, a few moments later, the concern that he saw swimming in their blue depths caught his attention, cutting across his thoughts with all razor sharpness of a dagger over his skin and attempted to smile a little happier but the corners of his mouth just refused to raise any higher; Hiccup didn't know why his late father's words were eating in to him so savagely, after all their bond had always been a laboured one even after he defeated the Red Death, so why was he suddenly feeling like he was fifteen years old all over again with the echo of his father's booming anger laced voice disowning him and telling him that he was no longer his son ringing inside of his ears. Knowing just what she needed to do to get the man she loved back to his normal self, Astrid stood up and walking round to the other side of her husband grabbing both of his hands with hers, lifted him to his feet before guiding the two of them toward and through the thick heavy doors of the Great Hall. Stitching the fingers of his right hand together with those of her left as they walked in the direction of the dragon stables, a few moments later.

Walking over to Toothless' remodeled stable, the newlyweds were not the least bit surprised to find both of their dragons inside of it together. Every since the Night Fury's defeat of Drago's Bewilder Beast, Stromfly rarely strayed far from his side, the two dragons did practically everything together except the odd Dragon Race and flying since Toothless needed Hiccup to get off the ground even with the new tailfin that his rider had constructed so that the Night Fury didn't have to be so reliant on his human rider once in flight. Pretty much for the most part, the lives of their dragons was a reflection of their own with the exception of a little incident between the cerulean blue Nadder and purple Monstrous Nightmare that had forced its way between the two, a few days in to Berks reconstruction, on the far side of the island and attempted to persuade him that she would be a much better match than her. According to what Valka told them she had seen from flying over the area on Cloudjumper at the time, Stromfly raised her spikes before taking to the air and dive bombing the other dragoness a few times, but seeing that was having little effect, suddenly arched out of the a wide turn and barreled toward the other female in a controlled yet speedy decent head butted said dragon in the flank with so much force that the purple Nightmare was send crashing into the trees on the other side of the little clearing they were in before rocketing skyward again and looping back around landed gracefully in-between Toothless and the Nightmare, flaring out her wings with a roar as if daring the other female to attempt coming between the two the of them again and how the defeated/humiliated by the far smaller dragoness the purple Nightmare flipped its wings twice before gaining enough altitude to fly away from the scene. Shifting her gaze to the fleeing Nightmare, for just as few seconds before returning it to Stromfly and Toothless, briefly watched as the cerulean blue Nadder and black Night Fury affectionately nuzzled one another before dipping Cloudjumper's wing tip and going in search of the other dragon to make sure that it wasn't injured, even if Stromfly actions were acceptable.

Walking over toward their cuddled dragons and separating them from one another, much to their displeasure but both of the scaly creatures protests stopped the moment their eyes caught sight of their riders own and they quietly allowed themselves to be pulled to opposite sides of the stable. Climbing up onto the backs of their saddled dragons, a few minutes later, Astrid glanced over toward Hiccup from where she sat atop Stromfly and could see the beginnings of her hubby's trademark goofy smile, which she loved so much, start to come to his lips. Shooting out through the stables open gates, mere seconds later, the newlyweds raced one another just as they had on the day that he had first woken up following his defeat of the Red Death. Leveling off smoothly as they left Berk behind them, after only a few minutes of flying, Astrid turned to look at her husband and saw a huge smile spread across his face, his lightly braided hair blowing in breeze; he really did belong up in the sky, where he was usually the happiest individual one Berk, other than when the two of them were together

Shifting her focus back to her dragon, the blue eyed blonde smiled to herself as she pulled Stromfly up next to Toothless, whom had his wings fully extended in a gliding position and nimbly dismounting her dragon, delicately crossed the thin membrane of the wing bridge that connected the two. Feeling a pair of arms wrap around his waist behind him, a few moments later, Hiccup didn't have to look back over his shoulder to see whom they belonged to but he did anyway and when he did his green eyes briefly locked with a pair blue before Astrid leaned her head slightly forward and closing the narrow gap between them, pressed her lips against his in a sweet, tender loving kiss. Briefly kissing her back, before breaking their locked lips, Hiccup felt Astrid nestle herself even more snuggly against his leather armored back as he turned his head to face forward once more. Less than a minute later, his wife rested her chin atop his armor covered shoulder and her head buried into the side of his neck while her dragon slipped out of Toothless' jet stream and dipping a wing tip Stromfly arched back in the direction of Berk.

The End

Not that I have anything against, the thrust into leadership sort of feeling that the second movie has, but its hard to say that the Chiefdom was for sure what Stoick wanted to sit down and talk to Hiccup about since the later didn't really give him a chance. Well I do hope all of you readers/followers have enjoyed this story and I hope the ending lived up to your expectations, even it didn't I'm still happy with how I ended it. Well you know what to do, so please R&R, and if you liked this one than I suggest that you read some of my other works on this site.