Hi peoples!

Disclaimer: I don't own How To Train Your Dragon – books, movies, nor TV series

Thank you residentmotherhen for proofreading this chapter. :D

Enjoy!

Epilogue

It was midday on Berk, and a quite warm one at that especially considering where the small town was placed. Finn's father always joked that it snowed nine months of the year and hailed the other three. While it was a slight exaggeration, Berk was indeed known for less than warm weather. On days like these it should be considered punishable to not take advantage of the unusually pleasant weather. Well, that was what Finn would like to do. Instead he was stuck in the house watching over his younger siblings. His mother had to go sort out some things at the Dragon Academy and had left her son in charge of his two younger sisters and brother.

It wasn't like the younger kids were that hard to manage - they weren't really too much younger except for little Hiccup. His two sisters, eleven-year old Eydis [1] and almost ten-year old Svana [2] were playing some kind of a game they had made up, and his little brother kept himself busy drawing in the sketchbook he received from their father.

Finn looked through the window and saw his friends walking towards the end of the village, probably heading to the nearest beach. He wanted to go too, but he had a feeling that mom would not be happy if she came home and found the house empty because the thirteen-year old had taken his siblings for a swim. Watching wistfully out the window, his eyes caught a black speck shooting across the sky - his dad flying high in the sky on his one and unparalleled Night Fury. As Finn's dad was the Chief of the village, he was the person to break up most of the fights and resolve any problems that the villagers came up against. That, unfortunately, caused him to come back home late and tired. Of course Finn would prefer for his dad to be home more often, (who wouldn't?) but he knew that his father tried as hard as he could to be with them as much as possible. The sandy-haired boy smiled as he reminded himself that he had been promised a whole day to spend some time with his dad. Originally Finn had wanted to go on a boat, as the sea was something that had always fascinated him, but the proposition had been dismissed by his father quickly enough. Instead they were to go 'explore' together.

No matter what they would do in the end – Finn couldn't wait to finally spend some time with his dad.

The said man landed near their house and moved towards two arguing Vikings with the black dragon in tow. Finn really looked up to his father- he wanted to be as diplomatic and as selfless as his dad was. Besides, his father was the best dragon rider in the world – one of the first ones, too. It was him who was dubbed "The Dragon Master" at the mere age of sixteen. It was said that there was no dragon that his dad couldn't train; Finn had seen his father in action a few times, and every time he was amazed by his skills with the creatures. Mum always said that their father was born special. Dad only laughed at that, dismissing the, for him, absurd idea almost instantly.

One could say that Finn Haddock was born special as well. While his left eye remained sky-blue like his mother's, his right one had turned light green shortly after birth. It was something rarely seen- more probable when it came to dragons, but not impossible. Dad kept joking that Finn was such an indecisive child, never knowing what he wanted, that he couldn't even settle on one eye color. The thirteen-year old would respond with an exasperated eye roll – his dad's humor was… specific.

His dad turned around for a second and grinned, spotting Finn standing by the window. The auburn-haired Viking waved to his son, and Toothless, the black Night Fury by his side, crooned happily. Finn smiled, revealing his slightly crooked teeth, and waved back enthusiastically. Unfortunately his father had to go back to work shortly after and Finn was once again alone with his siblings. He felt a pull on his tunic and looked down to see his little brother's big blue eyes staring up at him.

"Finny, I'm bored. Play with me." The five-year old boy was a carbon copy of their father except for his eyes and the shape of his nose. Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Fourth, named after their father, (despite his adamant protests,) had a habit of calling his older brother 'Finny' which, although the older boy would never admit (the whole Viking stubbornness issues and all), was a bit cute. Especially if the boy used a 'sad baby dragon' face like he was now.

"Alright." Finn crossed his arms and the small boy grinned. "What do you want to do, then?" Little Hiccup furrowed his brow, deep in thought. Suddenly he beamed at his older brother, his face lighting up brighter than the Snoggletog Tree after Hookfang, his uncle's dragon, set it on fire last year. Finn bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from laughing.

"Hide and seek!" Hiccup exclaimed happily. Not surprisingly, it was the boy's favorite game to play. Like their father, the five-year old was extremely talented, well, in… disappearing from sight. Mom was often complaining that their dad was able to vanish in the few seconds you weren't looking – and little Hiccup had a very similar ability; he mastered the game of hide and seek. Eydis and Svana looked up from their game, interested.

"We want to play too!" Svana squeaked and Eydis shrugged with a small smile.

"Okay, okay. I'll be the seeker." The younger kids nodded and Finn turned his back, closing his eyes. As he started to count under his breath, the thirteen-year old could hear his siblings giggling as they tried to find the best hiding spot.

"Ready or not, here I come!" he finally exclaimed, glancing around. Their house was quite big, he wasn't going to lie. There were six people, and three- four if you counted Sharpshot, (his mother did not,)- dragons living there, after all. The fact that his dad was the Chief added to that as well. Walking into the room the four Haddock children shared, Finn quickly spotted his eleven-year old sister hiding under the bed. Her fair hair, inherited from their mother, made her quite the noticeable target.

"I found you, Eydis," he called, crouching so the sister could see him. Eydis crawled from under the bed and flicked off some bits of dirt from the her shirt.

"I think I'm getting too old for this game. I can't find a good hiding spot anymore," she complained while fixing her hair. Some strands of her blonde hair had fallen loose from her braid. All of the Haddock children were quite small for their age. Both their father and mother were lean, not coming even close to being Viking-sized. Their dad was quite tall, though – a trait that both Finn and Eydis had inherited. The two siblings were about to go and find the other two Haddocks when they heard a loud crash coming from their parent's bedroom. Eydis and Finn stared at each other in panic before rushing out of the room towards the fateful sound.

As the two of them burst into their parent's bedroom, they found Svana and Hiccup looking ahead. Moving closer to his younger siblings, Finn cringed. The two kids were staring wide-eyed at their parent's open closet, in the middle of which was a hole- quite a big one at that. He shivered a little. They were so dead when mom returned from the Dragon Academy. Staring helplessly at the apparent disaster, a gleam of something metal caught his eye. The thirteen-year old came closer and examined the hole. Theoretically it should have led to the back wall of the room... but that was not the case. The hole showed fragments of something behind it. He touched the back wall of the cabinet, surprised to feel it move. Finn peeled back a thin layer of wood carefully, old nails falling away on their own, and found something he definitely wasn't expecting.

It really was a second closet. Pieces of armor, weapons and stacks of yellowed, old paper were shoved inside, some of them falling out as soon as the wood had been taken away. A symbol, painted in red, covered a few of the items and Finn frowned, recognizing it as one of dad's cool tattoos. One, specific thing caught his eye and he went to grab it almost immediately. The Haddock children all gasped in amazement and surprise. It was a helmet, and unlike uncle Snot's one, it was meant to cover the whole face. Finn's first thought was that it, by some degree, looked like a dragon's head. The upper part was made of metal and had three rows of spines running up, with the largest one positioned in the middle. The piece under the metal was made of brown leather, the two segments linked by a metal strap. Finn ran his hand over the helmet. It looked old – the mask was getting rusty in several places.

"Finny? What's that?" Little Hiccup tried to get on his tiptoes to see the object better.

"I think that's a helmet. But I've never seen anything like this..." Eydis answered, taking the item from her older brother's hands. She started to examine it herself. The blonde girl was very interested in all kinds of weapons and metalwork, taking after their father. Finn looked down at Hiccup and Svana.

"How did you even manage to make a hole in the closet!?" he asked incredulously, pointing at the panel of wood with the big gap in it. The miniature auburn-haired boy looked down at the floor, fiddling with his tiny hands.

"I didn't mean to, Finny. I just wanted to find the best hiding spot and fell over." Finn sighed. Looking his brother up and down, he felt relief that Hiccup hadn't hurt himself again as he tended to do by accident. He spotted Svana taking something else from the cache. Also formed out of metal, the object looked like a couple of shoulder guards connected to each other. The red symbol made its appearance there as well. Finn crouched and dug through all the different types of armor, finding something very interesting. A small pile of crackled parchment, much more secure than the rest, was lying at the at the very bottom of the closet. The thirteen-year old started looking through them, his mismatched eyes widening as he came to the conclusion. Those were arrest warrants! And it looked like they were written for their father! He felt someone pulling his tunic but he swatted the hand away, too absorbed in the find.

"Finn, I think-"

"Not now, Svana. I'm reading," he interrupted his younger sister and turned his focus back to the papers.

All together there were about fifteen of them, all of which contained more or less the same message – capture or kill the Dragon Master (sometimes a dragon rider in general,) and get rewarded. There were some pictures drawn of what, he supposed, were meant to be The Dragon Master. Truth be told, only one of them was actually well done. It showed a man clad completely in black armor and with a mask covering his face. Finn knew that their father ended the war between dragons and Vikings, but the details of how that happened remained pretty much unknown. He would have to ask his mother. Speaking of which...

"Finn Even[3] Haddock, what in Thor's name happened in here?!" The elder brother cringed at the sound of his mother's shouting. He didn't even notice her coming in – that was probably the thing that Svana was trying to warn him about. Glancing around the messy room, all the items splattered over the floor, Finn felt his stomach dropping. It looked worse than he thought. If only he had paid more attention…

"Uh… H-Hey Mom, hey, Mom. How… how was the Academy?" He waved awkwardly, wincing at his own words. His mother was definitely not happy. Her hands rested accusingly on her hips as she gifted her eldest son with an icy glare that he was pretty sure could kill people. Astrid 'Fearless' Hofferson was downright terrifying when she was angry. Even their father didn't want to cross her when she got into that mood.

"Momma, I'm sorry, it's all my fault; we, we were playing hide and seek and I t-tripped," rose the small voice of a worried little five-year old. Astrid's eyes softened as she turned to look at her youngest son - Little Hiccup was definitely momma's boy. She then turned back to the closet, her eyebrows drawing together as she looked from the armor on the floor to the papers in her son's hands. Her eyes suddenly widened and she snatched the papers from Finn.

"Mom, is that dad's?" Eydis asked holding out the helmet. Astrid took it carefully from her daughter's hands and ran her hand along the metal parts with a somewhat shaking hand. She nodded.

"Most of the things there, were once his." She gestured towards the armor laying on the floor and in the closet. All traces of previous anger had disappeared from her face, something Finn couldn't exactly identify replacing the previous scowl.

"Why did dad hide it? And what's with the arrest warrants?" Finn asked, feeling a bit braver as he pointed at the papers in his mother's hands.

"I have never told you how the war between the dragons Vikings ended, have I?" the blonde women asked with a raised eyebrow. The kids, Finn included, shook their heads and Astrid bit her lip, apparently deciding.

"Come downstairs and I'll tell you if you want." All four Haddock children, interested. immediately perked up and were about to head downstairs before their mother stopped them.

"One condition – you'll clean up all of this mess when I'm finished." The kids nodded vigorously in agreement before following her down the stairs. Finn, along with Eydis and Svana sat by the table, and Little Hiccup took the place beside his mother on the other side of it. As everyone was comfortably seated, Astrid forced a smile, hiding her shaking hands under the table.

"It all begun when…"

Hiccup was really tired. The full day of chiefing had taken a toll on him. He was angry with himself that he had come home so late again. The auburn-haired man had been really looking forward to eating dinner with his whole family but then some business, that he had to attend to, had popped up at the last minute. The kids were probably asleep by now. He sighed.

Hiccup entered the house with the Night Fury following him. He spotted his wife sitting by the fireplace, trying, (keyword trying,) to patch a hole in probably one of Svana's dresses. Hiccup chuckled under his breath as he saw Astrid scowling at the piece of material as if it had personally offended her. Hearing that her husband walked in, she slowly laid down the cloth and went to greet him with a tired smile. Hiccup returned her embrace, pecking her lips.

"How are you?" Astrid's brow furrowed, seeing his exhausted face. "Two ice-block kind of a day?" she asked. Hiccup just waved his hand.

"I'm fine. How was your day?" Astrid rolled her eyes at Hiccup's stubbornness and went to heat up his dinner. Her new, experimental recipe had turned out better than she had expected it to.

"Oh, you know, solved some problems at the Academy." She shrugged casually, stirring the food. She hesitated before continuing, "And I told the kids the story of how… how the war ended. Child-friendly version, of course."

"And how did they… react?" he asked cautiously, his hand involuntary going to the old pendant hanging off his neck. The modified story, intended for the younger ones, was extremely sugar-coated and overly cliché but Hiccup didn't have much problem with that. He wasn't planning on telling his children what really happened any time soon. For the time being, let them be oblivious to the nightmare he and many others endured years ago. They had seen his… scars, but he and Astrid always found a somewhat-believable excuse for them, quieting down any possible questions. Astrid filled the bowl and placed it on the table. Noticing Hiccup's distress, she hugged him from behind, pressing a cheek to his back.

"They think of you as a some kind of a hero. I mean they already looked up to you a lot, but now…" Hiccup turned to her in surprise. It was heartwarming that his children thought of him like that, not that he deserved any of the praise. What would they have thought of him if they knew the truth? Would they still have that same respect for him? He dismissed the dark thoughts and squeezed his wife's hand.

"I'm going to change my shirt. Be right back," he quickly said, kissing Astrid on the cheek. He went to the children's room first and kissed each one on the forehead. Hiccup smiled sadly. He really wished he could spend more time with them. The tired man entered his room and opened the closet in order to take out a fresh shirt. Seeing its insides, Hiccup's eyes went momentarily wide. Returning back to the main room, he stared at his wife.

"Astrid, why is there a hole in the middle of the closet?"

A/N:

[1] Eydis = 'goddess of good luck' in Old Norse

[2] Svana = 'lady' in Old Norse

[3] Even = 'lucky, happy' in Old Norse

TIMELINE for Inner Struggles(because I like things organized)

00. Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third is born to Valharama (Valka) and Stoick the Vast

01. Valka is taken by Cloudjumper

01,5. The Great Gathering of Chiefs; Astrid Hofferson is born to Solveig and Egil Hofferson

03,5. Gunnar Hofferson is born to Solveig and Egil Hofferson

07,5. Hiccup and Astrid meet for the first time

09. 'Fearless' Finn Hofferson is killed by the Flightmare

14. Dragon Training on Berk – unknown victor; Hiccup shoots down and befriends Toothless

14,5. Hiccup and Toothless find the Red Death's lair

15,5. Dragon Training in Bjargey – Astrid wins; Hiccups finds the Dragon Sanctuary and Valka

16. The Raids stop; The Red Death is killed by Hiccup and other Riders

16,5. The Riders begin rescuing dragons and fighting with Drago more aggressively; Hiccup is captured for a few months – he loses his leg

17,5. Valka is shot during one of the flights and dies from arrow poisoning; Astrid comes across the Dragon Master on Bjargey

18,5. The wedding of Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third and Astrid Hofferson; The Great Battle

20.. Finn Even Haddock is born

That's it. The end. I will be doing the series of short stories but, fair warning, the updates will be random. If you want to see a particular moment in their lives in this AU or have any ideas, propositions, let me know by sending me a PM. :D I will do my best, though once September comes, my time will be once again limited.

BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY. I just want to say huge thank you, to all of you. Not only the ones that have favorited, followed and reviewed the story but also everyone that read it. I have never in millions years expected such a huge feedback and it's all thanks to YOU. Your kind words were a great encouragement and I feel that, even though I'm still a beginner, I have learned so much in the last few months. I hope you enjoyed reading the story just as much as I enjoyed writing it. THANK YOU!

Special thanks to residentmotherhen for helping me out so much with the story!

For the Guestreviewers! Will it be alright to answer your reviews for this chapter in the first oneshot from the series? Please let me know. ;)

Guest reviews. ( from the oldest to the newest ):

Guest 1: Thank you for reading it. ;) I'm really happy to hear that and I hope that you enjoyed the epilogue just as much. :)

Guest 2: Reviews like that really warm my heart. I really don't deserve all those kind words but I'm beyond grateful for your reviews. You've been here since the first chapter, through thick and thin, and your words were that of a great encouragement. I'm glad you saw that chapter as both sad and happy. War brings pain but they have hope of the better future as well. Healing takes time but… they'll get there one day. I hope you'll like the epilogue. It has a happier ring to it, a bit of a contrast to the few last chapters. I'm a sucker for happy endings, though. ;) Should you leave a review, would it be okay if I answered it in the first oneshot that will be posted? I could still answer your review and you have mentioned that you will be reading them. :D

Guest 3: I'm so glad to hear that you loved it. :D I couldn't kill Hiccup, how would I have lived with myself if I did? ;)

Tiliepops: Thank you for the kind words! I hope you enjoyed the epilogue just as much!

Alicia: You're so sweet. Hugs and kisses to you too. And no worries, I understand. ;) Oh, I know the feeling all too well. And then there's this time period when I can't read anything – here it's called something like a book hangover, I don't know if you know what I mean? ;)But, hey, there are still the short stories. I hope you enjoyed the epilogue.

Exij: Well, have a good time. ;) I hope you don't stumble upon this huge minecraft reference in chapter twen- Shoot… I've said too much. :P

THANK YOU. IT HAS BEEN A GREAT PLEASURE AND I HOPE TO SEE YOU IN THE FUTURE

Till next time!

~InsertACreativeNameHere