Unintentional Hero

Author: Nightstar Fury of Nightstar Productions

Rated: M for a variety of things that will happen

Pairing: Hiccup/Astrid

Disclaimer: I do not own HTTYD

(Author's Note; Hey everyone! Sorry it's taken so long to get this chapter up and sorry it's shorter than the others. It's more or less a summary of after the birth of Hayden and Avery's son-Hunter Anderson Haddock. Just how their lives turned out, so on and so forth. Enjoy!)

80; Epilogue

He never knew he could be this happy-even before the military became apart of his life. His life changed so much in so little time but nothing he ever went through whether good or bad compared to the absolute joy he felt knowing he married the love of his life, had an amazing family and made friends he'd have forever. So much had happened since the birth of his and Avery's first son-Hunter Anderson Haddock. This name of course derived from Hayden's older brother figure who gave his life to save his: Harry Anderson. If it weren't for that man then Hayden wouldn't have all he did now. He wouldn't have his family and friends. He wouldn't of been able to get married, he wouldn't be as happy as he was now. He owed a lot to Harry and he would never forget him. Harry was the first person to believe in him on the first tour when Hayden was downright terrified to be in Afghanistan when he was only a mere seventeen years old but Harry changed that for him by giving him the position of Strike One unit leader-a position requiring him to be on top of things, to have to think for everyone in order to keep them safe, a position where he had to believe in himself.

Hayden would always be thankful to Harry for that-giving him the confidence to believe in himself when he didn't originally. There were still some days that were harder for him to get through and all his friends and family knew about it too. They gave him his space but also made sure that he was okay-it wasn't just over Harry's death, it was all the friends he'd lost over the six years of being in the military. Oivind, Steven, Eli, Daryl, and Jason were deaths that hurt the most-that was his team-his unit and he was in charge of them and two of them gave their lives to save his like Harry had. Oivind, and Eli were things he just couldn't stop, and Tarelto just couldn't handle the pain anymore. This almost happened to Hayden, twice. After Tarelto took his own life-Hayden had suicidal thoughts that Harry helped him through and then Harry died-Hayden nearly went off the deep end with grief over the loss but thanks to his friends-they stopped him just in time and now he was married with three kids and happier than ever.

Yes that's right. Hayden and Avery had two more kids after little Hunter was born. About fourteen months after Hunter was born-Avery announced she was pregnant again and this time they ended up having a little girl who they named Angel Haddock, she was born a month early but born healthy nevertheless. Their third child was conceived four months after the birth of Angel, it was another boy that they gave the name of Issac Haddock. In total now it had been just short of three years since Hunter's birth and they were a happy family-still living in the duplex they shared with Olivia and Theo who were now expecting their second child-due in a total of five months, they were getting ready to move so they'd have more room for their new addition. Hayden and Avery agreed not to have any more children for the time being-three was more than enough with Hunter being thirty-six months old, Angel being thirteen months old, and now Issac being a new born-Hayden and Avery were definitely kept busy with those three.

On top of their family at home-Hayden still had Beyond The Clouds to manage while being a husband and father. Camille and Dylan were married now-they ended up having a girl that they ended up naming Danielle. Rachel and Ethan had a boy they named Jayson. Seth and Jasmine lived together now and were doing really well but no plans for marriage or children yet. TJ and Samantha were now engaged-looking for a place to live. Heather and Felix were married finally, there had been a situation where they had to push it back because Felix had some family issues to take care of but now it was all good and they were discussing having a child but nothing set in stone yet. Yep, everyone's lives were great and happiness all around. Hayden's depression was just about non-existent, to the point where he didn't need the medications to help him sleep anymore but he still the anti-depressants because they tried two weeks with him off of them and that didn't go down so well. Hayden almost has a severe set back in depression without them.

His suicidal thoughts returned so it was quick to see that he didn't still need them but he wasn't going to counseling anymore so that was good too. Hayden's day started at 5am, ended around 11pm. He spent from 7am to 4 or 5pm at Beyond the Clouds with meetings, classes, and training. When he got home from work he spent time with his family, helped Avery with dinner, gave the kids a bath, tucked them into bed before having some alone time with his wife. Sometimes they made love, sometimes they were just so tired they went right to bed. Between the hours of 5am and 7am-he showered, made breakfast and normally got the kids ready for the day before Avery got up just as he was getting Issac's morning bottle in that way she'd had time to get some coffee and shower before taking over while he went to work. Avery would be returning to work when Issac turned three months old-all the kids would be in the Beyond The Clouds daycare center that Hayden had added after the birth of Hunter since he didn't want to be away from the kids while he was working. It helped out any other students who had kids too.

"Hayden, hurry up!" Avery called to him softly. Today they were meeting their friends and families at Beyond The Clouds just to hang out. It was a Saturday so there weren't any classes to handle-and Beyond The Clouds was built for people and dragons. They tried to all get together once or twice a month to catch up since everyone was busy with work or their families.

"Comin babe, just finishin up this email." Hayden called back as he typed a few more things then sent it off and closed his laptop before leaving the bedroom and walking out to see Avery holding the carrier and Angel's hand. Hayden took the carrier with Issac buckled in while Hunter held his hand and Avery grabbed the bag. The two of them saddled their dragons-loaded up and headed out towards Beyond The Clouds.

(BTC-Beyond The Clouds)

Arriving twenty minutes later-the others were there and had arrived ahead of them with their dragons and kids. "There you two are!" Camille said smiling lightly.

"Sorry-had to send an email," Hayden admitted as he dismounted Toothless and got the carrier off his back to set it down in the grass. Valora came right over to unbuckle and hold him-she loved being a grandmother and Dad loved being a grandfather. Once everyone was settled and relaxed-they began to eat the food that Hayden and Dylan grilled up for everyone: cheeseburgers, hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken, ribs and of course there was chips, dip, drinks, and more.

"This is great," Heather said while leaning against Felix.

"Seriously, we gotta do it more often than twice a month." Ethan agreed with her.

"Well we aren't kids anymore guys-we all got our jobs and families, it's hard to just get together." Hayden added softly while he looked down to Issac in his arms who was sleeping.

"True that," Theo nodded. They mostly just sat around and talked about their lives for an hour or so, Hayden though seemed to be pretty distracted with his staring off into the distance and having to be called more than once to get his attention. Today was one of those harder days-because it was the anniversary of of when he'd joined the military-when it all started for him, getting him where he was today.

"Hayden!" Jasmine said while snapping her fingers in front of him.

"Hm, what's up?" he replied.

"You okay-that's like the eighth time you've zoned out in an hour," Camille asked.

"I'm fine-just thinking is all," Hayden smiled at them.

"About?" Theo pressed softly.

"I joined the military nine years ago today-just holds meaning to me I guess, it's where everything started," Hayden admitted.

"Oh shit-that's right. You joined in October of 2016, can't believe it's been nine years already..." Theo smiled, "I know what you're thinkin about though bro, ya can't hide it from me. Joining the military started everything-both good and bad, right?"

"Never miss a beat do ya?" Hayden asked as Theo shook his head a few times, "Yeah-thinking about it all,"

"It got ya where you are today my friend-there is a lot to be grateful for," Ethan said.

"Not saying I'm not grateful-just that..." he paused trying to find the words to use, "I don't know how to put it. I'm grateful, I'm happier than I've ever been but it still feels like there are things missing-the friends Theo and I lost, the ones who started the journey with us. We always said we'd do this kind of thing, get together, picnic, get drunk and yet...it's only Theo and I who remain from that promise," Hayden said softly. They nodded-understanding what he was talking about-he'd mentioned it before to them. "But I know they are here in spirit an that's enough for me,"

-Hayden's POV-

I looked around at all of them. My friends-some who had been enemies before but people that I now was proud to call family and friends. My life was perfect, I was missing some people but I knew they were always with me where ever I went in life and that made the pain easier to deal with. It still shocked me it'd been nine years today that I joined the army-served four tours, lost a lot of people, gained a lot of people. There was so much good and bad piled into the last nine years. I still hated being called a hero for ending two wars but I knew people would always call me that-I did things not a lot of others could do because I had Toothless and terrible anger management when it came to people I cared about. Messing with them would set me off without a warning and everyone knew that about me and I didn't care that they knew I could snap on a dime if someone I cared about was put in danger or got hurt. I didn't care if I was a hero to everyone else. I had gains, I had losses. I had sadness and happiness but most of all I have people beside me who never let me down and will always be there for me. I never joined the army to become a hero. I joined to prove I wasn't useless and wanted to do the right thing-I wanted to protect and defend the people I care about and give them a better future to live in. So I guess being the unintentional hero did just that and I ended up happier than I could of ever imagined.