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The morning came with lukewarm light shining through the window.

The first sign of life in the Thorston house was Ruffnut stretching out across her half of the bed with her eyes ajar to the blinding sun. Her brother was adamant on remaining still, which to Ruffnut was fine as long as it lasted for another few minutes.

She dragged her body out of the bed and onto her feet. Her arms went up to rid them of the tiredness, but was cut short when a stinging sensation reminded Ruffnut of her crude bandage along her right shoulder. She cursed lightly, not to wake her still snoring brother, and drew her attention to her dressing gown lying lazily over the edge of the trunk where Tuffnut had salvaged her medicines the night before.

Wrapping it around her slim frame, she tried to be as quiet as she could over the creaking keyboard of a staircase. Getting to the painful end of the stairs she peered through the slight opening of her father's bedroom door. She found him right where she left him, splayed over his bed with a slight thread of saliva dripping from his lower lip made swollen from the repeated kiss of glass and mead.

He was silent and his breathing was even, although a little strained as he was bent over the wooden edge of his bed and the air had to struggle over the splintered sides of the bed corners. Apart from that he seemed peaceful and a thought clicked in Ruffnut's mind that she should make him something for his eventual hangover.

Still as quiet as she could, she turned to go back up the stairs and search for her medicine case but was stopped when she saw someone had beaten her to it.

Tuffnut stood at the top of the stairs, also coated in his furred robe, holding Ruffnut's treasured case in front of him with a knowing smile.

"I heard you get up, I thought you might want this" he passed the handles to her and when she smiled in appreciation he simply shrugged his shoulders and let her instigate their more well-known behaviour.

"You're lucky I got any sleep at all with you and your snoring!" Ruffnut resented and she saw the same thought cross her brother's mind.

This is more like it.

"You're lucky? I haven't gotten any sleep now I'm having nightmares about you!" he forced his forehead to hers and they both played battering ram with the other.

"Aww, did I scare the little baby man-child?" she taunted with a smirk as he growled. They couldn't get too loud, for fear they'd wake the younger ones.

They tossed around several more one lined insults until it sounded. The worst noise of their childhood.

Their father grunting unto his pillow. The kraken awakes.

He let out a long groan and tried to lift his heavy head. It took several attempts and his children were stood still in fear as they witnessed his blood shot eyes coated in its usual morning crust scan the room. He held his head in place for what seemed like an eon. The twins couldn't breathe. They didn't know if he knew they were there, and if he didn't they certainly didn't want him to know.

Eventually he gave in to a familiar heaving feeling in his stomach, bent his head forward and vomited fountains onto the buckets around him. Ruffnut lifted her case to her chest and sped downstairs to get him his medicine, while Tuffnut knocked lightly on his father's door, rubbing his eyes to make it seem as though he'd just woken up and tried to help him by holding his hair back and getting him into a more comfortable position.

Ruffnut made to her work as quickly as she could, barging into the kitchen with a force unknown to her body apart from urgencies. She opened the case onto the table top and made use of her rehearsals as she expertly extracted her purple and green bottles, mixed three teaspoons worth of each onto a bowl, added water and cut slices of lemon grass.

She grabbed the edges of the bowl, swivelled it to stir and raced into her father's room. She held the rim under his nose as he inhaled, sealing his eyes to avoid the sting; Ruffnut and Tuffnut, too, held their faces in a different direction to the liquid smelling salts.

When Tuffnut Sr. began retching again Tuffnut lowered his father's back so he held his head between his knees. Ruffnut encouraged deep breaths, and held one of her father's shaking hands.

It was a trying time for all of them, but Tuffnut Sr. being the one in his crushing hangover he was oblivious of what his children felt, since all he could feel was a head that felt fifty pounds heavier, a lurching stomach and a dry acid-burned throat. The ordeal would continue for some time and by the end of it Tuffnut Sr. would be steered back into bed while Ruffnut moped his brow and Tuffnut cleared the stomach contents from the buckets that felt its wrath and from the floor where spatter had landed.

Closing the curtains tighter and laying an extra layer of fleece over Tuffnut Sr., Ruffnut coaxed him back to sleep with some poppy essence evaporating in a bowl of hot water. Assured with his comfort she slowly closed the door behind her and travelled downstairs to help her brother clean out the buckets as well as maintain the fight, since she noticed her energy dwindling. This had to be done fast.

"Eugh!" she exclaimed, her face scrunched in horror at her brother bent over rusted buckets painted with slimy yellow-brown vomit and the rancid smell that emitted from it "Is that the buckets or you?" she taunted and the recharging began again.

Ruffnut's knowing eye of what was expelled from her father's mouth knew that since it seemed to be pure translucent liquid, so he hadn't eaten which meant he got very drunk very quickly. All night his body was run on alcohol and the result meant a painful expulsion the next morning.

Tuffnut just continued with his job, trying his best to continue the fuel pumping disagreements and hence attempted to ignore the concerned look stretched on his sister's face. He knew all too well how she felt, and knew how much she hated to be consoled by him, he and his sister were made to be enemies for the sake of their sanities; for this job they'd need Lachlan.

They just continued with their work, and after the buckets were scraped clean they were placed back around Tuffnut Sr.'s bed.

This was the usual torment that graced the first morning of their time away from Berk, and although the two had grown used to it, it didn't give Tuffnut Sr. an excuse and didn't stop the pair from their inner torment. He wasn't always like this, there were days where being sober suited him well, enough at least to be civil to his children. Ruffnut remembered clearly a day when she'd found Thistle crying at the end of her bed with a throbbing red cheek from where a certain alcoholic had forced his fist against his daughter's face and to cheer her up she spoke truthfully of the day she was born, when Tuffnut Sr. had begun sobbing at first glance of his new daughter, cradling her in his arms and proclaiming to the entire village the next day "I've the most beautiful daughter in Berk" (which, to be honest, made Ruffnut and Briarthorn infinitely jealous and Astrid's father a little outspoken). It stopped her crying at least, but Ruffnut's stomach twisted a little with the knowledge she'd forgotten to mention that he was drunk at the time of her birth as well, so there was no mystery why the first time he'd taken Thistle into his arms he dropped her.

The twins were already drained, and it was only an hour past dawn. There was still some time until the younger ones woke up so Ruffnut took her time to have a bath, while Tuffnut did his usual of ignoring hygiene and just getting dressed, saying he'd only bathe when swimming in Arvid lake.

Emerged rejuvenated from the bath water, Ruffnut had some of her energy back. She took full advantage and dressed quickly and then threw her hairbrush over her shoulder, knowing Tuffnut would catch it.

Their other morning ritual was a bizarre one. Ruffnut always had difficulties managing her hair it being the length that it was (it would be longer had it not been for a misadventure of Tuffnut's, one Ruffnut still hadn't forgiven him for). To be a barely useful brother, Tuffnut made a point of at least helping his sister manage the long flowing river that, out of its braids, could cascade down to the floor. Beginning his commitment he brushed through the locks while his sister sat on a stool in front of a mirror with a spear and stone in hand. He braided her locks while she sharpened his weapon.

"Astrid doesn't know about this does she?" he hesitated, ceasing brushing her hair until she answered.

Ruffnut wasn't worried "No one knows" she assured her brother "Even if we did tell people they'd never believe us"

"True" he supposed and resumed brushing and braiding his sister's hair.

As soon as they were done the roles reversed and Tuffnut's hair was in Ruffnut's hands while she entrusted the razor quality of her spear to him.

When they finished it was two hours passed dawn, proven by the rustle of the younger ones outside the door, running downstairs into the kitchen, waiting for breakfast. Now that Briarthorn was no longer a part of the daily routine, the twins had to make up for the lost matriarch, a task achieved with great difficulty.

Ruffnut used what cooking skills she had learned from her mother, sister and step-mother while Tuffnut had to manage setting the table for the four Thorston terrors. They were interesting children to say the least. Fetlock and Crubeen were sweet and calm on most days where Thistle was gentle and soft she could be stubborn and her elder siblings got a great kick out of it and Weevil was a little young to have a definitive personality, at least that's how he could act, he was a typical five year old and was just on his growing curve.

"Come and get it!" Ruffnut called to her siblings, careful not to raise her voice too loud and wake her father again. She laid out the food for her siblings and was clearly in a hurry to finish hers. She finished before the rest of her siblings and dashed upstairs with a tray of toast and a glass of raw eggs, something she was hoping would ease her father's hangover.

She knocked lightly on her father's door, praying deep down that he was still fast asleep, but as per usual, no such luck.

She heard him groan with a little curiosity and took her entrance "Daddy?"

She hated calling him that. It made her feel weak and stupid, like a helpless little girl. But now she needed him not to feel threatened, so weak and stupid was what she needed to be.

She pressed her back against the door and forced it back until she knew her father could see her. When he accepted her presence with a grunt she entered and placed the tray at the end of his bed, where her father was still lying flat.

"Briar?" Tuffnut Sr. called out for his eldest daughter by her nickname. Ruffnut didn't know whether to be flattered that her father thought she looked like Briarthorn or insulted that he didn't recognise her.

"No, daddy, it's Ruffnut" she replied with a smile she hoped he could see.

"Son?" okay, now she was insulted

"No, daddy, Ruffnut" she emphasised until he just murmured "oh" and sunk his head back into his pillow. When he saw that she didn't come without purpose, he just began laughing, which to Ruffnut wasn't a great sign, it could've meant he was still drunk, but it was better that crying.

"Aww, my sweet Ruffy, did you think I forgot about you?" he kept on laughing "I couldn't forget you...not my sweet Viking" Ruffnut did her best to keep a clear mind while feeding her father. She had to force him a little to take his eggs, as she always did, but with him being in the state that he was she simply squeezed around the canals of his nose, tilted his head back and poured the drink into his throat.

He didn't seem too affected by her actions, decided that he deserved it "I love you, sweetheart" he admitted. He didn't know why he did; she wouldn't believe it unless he was sober.

"I love you, too" she responded coldly as though it was fact, which it was, but she sounded tired as though she was disappointed. She was disappointed. Disappointed that he didn't know why.

She leaned in and kissed her father's cheek with stiff, almost reluctant, lips; all she could think about was Thistle's glowing red patch left from his fist. She was dying to get out of his room. Something about her father drained her, just thinking about him for a long period of time made her dragon-built muscles tire.

She scurried out before he could talk her back in and she looked through into the kitchen and saw the breakfast table cleared away and her siblings playing with one another solemnly on the living room floor and she smiled, knowing here she could be herself at her best. This was safe.

Wandering over, she grasped Weevil under his arms and lifted him onto her lap, where he too felt safe, while Tuffnut showed off to his younger siblings yet another story of their adventures with Hiccup and the dragons. The younger ones sat in awe of the tales, until it got to the fighting part and the younger twins and Thistle would spurt out whatever random acts of violence they could think of.

Weevil could get a little uncomfortable thinking of all the blood and body matter of the Red Death going up in flames and scurried backwards into his sister's chest. She tenderly wrapped her arms around the baby of the family and held him even closer as he turned and grabbed onto the ends of her braids for security; sometimes Ruffnut regretted him losing his blanket. As long as he didn't tug in fear he was alright.

"You okay?" she whispered tenderly into his thin wisps of bright blonde hair as they shook from side to side. Ruffnut began hearing whimpers coming from the small boy and small damp patches growing into her shirt where his face was nuzzled. He was always this way when Tuffnut went into astonishingly gory detail about how the explosion turned Hiccup's left leg into a burnt bloody pulp until it had to be rid of.

Sighing, she hoisted her sobbing brother up until he was securely hiked in her arms. She nodded solemnly at Tuffnut before she exited the house through the kitchen door and put a slight bounce in her step to sooth the crying child. Weevil was piteously squeamish and tender for a young boy; he wouldn't be a warrior anytime soon.

The crying stopped quickly but Weevil still sniffled and his chest still had their small spasms of raising and thumping against his sister. Ruffnut rubbed circles into his back and kissed his forehead with as much tenderness as she could. When Weevil was born Briarthorn was busy handling Crubeen and Fetlock while Ruffnut managed the younger two, and Tuffnut really just managed himself and struggled to do so. Ruffnut never told anyone this but Weevil's first word was 'Mama' and he only ever said it to her as an infant, since Carleigh was off managing her divorce.

"Better, sweetie?" she asked, still bouncing him and balancing his head on her right shoulder. He nodded lightly in response.

"You know, anyone would think I was your mother" she laughed, trying to make him smile, he just stared back at her with more seriousness she thought capable for someone his age.

"You are" he mumbled against her neck "More than Carleigh"

Ruffnut just stood shocked. She never realised he felt that way towards his mother, especially since she was far younger than Carleigh, but when she really thought about it, she was sixteen, and Carleigh was sixteen when she became pregnant with Weevil, maybe there was something to his theory but Carleigh wouldn't appreciate having her motherhood usurped, and she'd been through enough.

"Hey, now" she whispered seriously to Weevil "She does her best, and she loves you"

He still looked doubtful

"And don't call her Carleigh" she sternly reminded him "She's your mother, call her 'Mama'"

"I'll call her 'Mama' when she wants to be my 'Mama'" he shot back, tears filling in his eyes again.

"Who said she didn't want to be?" Ruffnut was becoming worried

"She doesn't need to say anything, if she wanted to be a Mama she wouldn't have left"

Ruffnut sighed heavily "Babe, she didn't leave, we can still see her" she looked deep into his eyes and knew his reply without him even saying it "But it's not the same"

Ruffnut wanted to argue with him more, but he didn't need to hear any of it. His young ears had been tainted enough. All she told him was that it wasn't anyone's fault for their situation, no one caused it on purpose and all they could do was make a life out of what they had and what they had was each other.

She ended with something she hoped would bring a smile to his face "We'll be okay" she then picked him up under his arms and swung him around in the air "We rule!"

He laughed as hard as he could before she set him on the ground and as Ruffnut waited for the traditional Thorston smirk she was disappointed to receive only a fraction of what the grin could have been. It would have to do for now. She grasped his hand and led him back inside where she saw bedlam.

Or rather as much bedlam as you could get between Tuffnut and Thistle Thorston.

Story time had ended and now Crubeen and Fetlock were snuggled in the corner of the room by the chairs playing with wooden swords while in the centre of the floor Tuffnut and Thistle were wrestling. Well, Thistle was wrestling; Tuffnut was rolling around on the floor and doing his best to avoid her punches, all the while tickling her into submission.

"Big brother!" Thistle half-squealed half-laughed as she was being wheeled all over the floor.

"Little sister!" he retaliated with a childish voice. He continued his tickle attack and added a motion of getting to lie on his back and throw her into the air before catching her and continuing to roll over.

Ruffnut wanted to laugh but she was cut short when she heard a rumbling upstairs.

Oh dear Odin, she panicked.

"Quiet!" she tried to hush her own voice and prayed that the rumbling she heard was just her father turning over to the other side of the bed.

All the children were frozen with fear, Thistle burying herself into her older brother's chest and the twin boys hiding behind the chairs and covering their faces with their swords. Weevil even clutched onto Ruffnut's legs for dear life.

They all hated that he had to wake up, but how else were they going to get him out of the house? The rumbles became stomps and everyone subconsciously retreated away from the staircase where he would eventually descend.

"Anyone home?" he bellowed from above like a raptured god. The stomps became louder and louder until the source became visible. A pair of hairy purple feet with chipping yellow nails appeared and wore away at the wood of the stairs with each pounding step until his footprints were embedded in them.

"Well..." he began almost howling then broke into laughter "what do we have here?" he spoke almost viscously.

His feet met the ends of the stairs and onto the floorboards, where Tuffnut Sr.'s face instantly turned a venomous colour of green. Ruffnut was disgusted enough that he willingly presented himself to his young children dressed in a nightgown that was so thin it spared nothing from Tuffnut Sr.'s body, it was only made thick in some areas from lingering stains of putrid yellow, mould greens and indescribable browns; and to think it used to be white.

Tuffnut looked on at his father and his faced scrunched up for the inevitable. He hated more than anything else that people thought he was most like his father. He knew they only meant in looks and did specify 'when your father was younger' but he still felt it in the pit of his stomach that people could even relate him to his father. Especially at times like this.

Tuffnut Sr. bent his head forward lightly and in front of six of his children, four of whom were already crying with terror, vomited endlessly at his feet.

He stood straight letting the disgustingly warm pale yellow fluid spread over his skin and in between his toes. His stomach churned enough for three full spurts of gastric acid, at the end of which he became dizzy and fell forward nearly letting the ends of his greasy coal stained hair slap Ruffnut in the face, as she stood closest to him.

Weevil wailed with sobs; Crubeen and Fetlock held each other and cowered into the corner in fear; Thistle cried quietly into Tuffnut's neck. All Ruffnut and Tuffnut could do was stand there for a few minutes struck in horror.

This time Tuffnut took charge. He stood with Thistle huddled in his arms and placed a hand on his twin's shoulder making her turn and stare into his all-answering look.

She read his expression and bent down to pick up Weevil off the floor with one arm before taking Thistle away from Tuffnut with the other. She expertly dodged her father's unconscious body and fresh fluids and carried the two up the stairs waiting for Fetlock and Crubeen to join them.

Tuffnut carried the boys as far as half way up the stairs before hurrying them after their sister. Being nine years of age they could manage the ordeal better than the younger two but still struggled not to look back and relive the terror.

"Come on boys" Ruffnut gently encouraged. They followed into their room where their elder sister laid Thistle and Weevil onto their bed and turned to them offering her arms out open wide. All four scurried in and were squeezed together.

"It'll be alright" she assured them "You know that, don't you?" she looked down at them with a look worthy of a mother. They all nodded, drawing smiles for her. She smiled back and told them to wait there while she prepared a bath for them all. They all nodded again and stayed in their room while Ruffnut looked back before closing the door shut, knowing this was the last thing they needed to see.

Looking down the stairs she saw Tuffnut had dragged their father away from his last drop and back into his room, as deduced from the trail of liquid drag marks on the floor. She was repulsed by the smell, but having seen her father through many hangovers and having the adrenaline junkie brother she had there was little that could get Ruffnut Thorston's stomach to churn. She walked down into the kitchen, side-stepping any suspicious looking fluids and searched for her cleaning cloths.

She could hear retching from upstairs but didn't want to contemplate what in the world her father would have left to spit up. She just focused on cleaning her father's mess. All she had to be thankful for was that he hadn't got the carpet, or she'd never get the stain out, but she did have some remorse for the fact the smell on the floor may be stubborn. She scrubbed till her hands were bubbled with blisters.

She wasn't sure how much time had passed while she toiled over a wet floor but it was at least a little less than it had taken her the last time. She sat up on her knees to brush her hair out of her face and her eyes just glanced upwards to see Tuffnut on a descent from their father's room.

"He should be fine, I mopped his face and feet and he's back to lying in bed" he explained.

Tuffnut offered to grab a rag and help but Ruffnut was almost finished and declined. Her head was too full of rage at her father. She could manage when his misbehaviour was between him and her, but when he involved the younger ones, he crossed a line.

"Why does he have to do this?" she thought out loud, drawing her brother's attention. She had hate and distain firing in her eyes, emotions Tuffnut hating seeing on her. When they fought there was never hate involved, only the need for unloading their stresses on each other with no harm involved.

"He just doesn't know where his head is" he tried to console, but he too felt a long malignant sting just thinking about his father drunk. He walked over to her and they looked at each other straight into the other's eyes "We just can't let it rub off on us"

She agreed without words.

Together they managed to get all four of their siblings washed and dressed in time to see the village just after noon. Away from Tuffnut Sr. anywhere was a safe haven, but Arvid was something safe and beautiful. Berk was planted firmly on the Meridian of Misery, but Arvid was several days south-west and so avoided the bitter cold of Freezing-To-Death and was a good distance from the emotional dysfunction of Hopeless.

It was a beautiful village in the daylight, in the centre of the island it dipped into a massive lake and spidered out into rivers all of which were teeming with fish. It was also perfect for swimming, for which the villagers were famous. According to legend there were men from Arvid who swam from all islands to the next in hours that took boatmen days.

It seemed everyone knew everyone, proven by the stir the Thorstons caused when they walked through the marketplace with the Zippleback behind them. They hadn't been to Arvid in years and their only communication was through letters from Ruffnut and Tuffnut. For them it was until they were six that Arvid was an annual visit and this was their first time back since.

A particular scream caught Tuffnut's ear.

"Tuffnut!" he turned to see a pair of twinkling sapphires come closer and closer towards him.

"Silver!" he called back. He placed Weevil on his feet to run towards the girl he'd known almost as long as Ruffnut. Weevil didn't stay on the ground for too long as Ruffnut whisked him off the floor and nuzzled his face into her shoulder to shield his eyes from the inevitable sight.

Silver leapt into Tuffnut's arms and kissed him in full view of the village, neither caring at all. He placed her down and just clamped his arms around her.

"Oh Freya, I've missed you" she murmured.

They stood together until they heard a simultaneous "Eww!" come from the collective mouths of Crubeen, Fetlock, Thistle and Weevil. They broke apart and seeing Ruffnut grinning at the pair, Silver took full advantage.

"Ruffy!" she squealed and enveloped her into a rib-crushing embrace.

Silver Sigrid was an old family friend as she came from a line of jewel merchants, so it was only appropriate to abandon the tradition of giving children names to scare off trolls and name their only daughter after the precious metal.

For the close relationship between the trading families, it was only natural for the Sigrid's eldest daughter to have a mutual attraction to the Thorston's eldest son. Needless to say that Silver was an attractive girl, her long ebony hair when taken out of their braids met her waist and her sparkling blue eyes were the first things anyone noticed even in a crowded room. They only reason she was named Silver was for her almost white skin, which would occasionally come out in a ruby-dust blush around her cheeks mainly when Tuffnut was near. Of course that was when he'd last seen her, ten years ago, and still the infatuation was there.

"How are you, Silvy?" Ruffnut rasped through Silver's grasp. She was eventually let loose but not until she turned as blue as her jerkin.

"Better now that you're here" she had the same high-pitched echo in her voice that she had at the age of three. Not that anyone minded too much, but she was told once that her husband would have to be partially deaf just to have a conversation with her.

"And how are you, my little darlings?!" she then began fussing over the younger members of the Thorston family. At this, Ruffnut slid away to catch the attention of her brother, who now was just staring aimlessly into space.

"Looks of an angel, voice of a strangled cat - and still she deserves better" she teased; she remembered that Lachlan joke all too well. Of course neither meant it, there was a time when they got along, but that halted when the title 'Viking' was tossed around in their family (along with Tuffnut Sr.'s late night lock-ins). Before that the twins were inseparable - they still were just with different attitudes - Ruffnut could remember a bloody nosed Tuffnut returning to her with a rag doll that had been stolen from her by Snotlout the day before. Still in the back of her head she wondered if now the dragons were not a problem she could have that brother back...

Tuffnut could see in her eyes that she was actually giving him her blessing to seek Silver as the companion of his future life (he didn't need it but her approval meant more to him than their father's). He in return had given Ruffnut his permission to go after Lachlan long ago, but circumstance had forbid it until as of late.

Their thought tracks were broken when they heard Thistle laughing as she was swung in the air at the gentle hands of Silver. They looked down and saw the three boys circling her feet with their arms rose anticipating their turn. Ruffnut smirked at the sight; Tuffnut didn't need to tell her that he imagined Silver with their children many times because his face said it all.

"Me next!" the children begged as Thistle was set down on her dizzied feet.

"You okay?" Tuffnut bent down and took his sister in his arms; you could see the stars orbiting her head.

Silver worked her magic on all four of the younger ones and insisted that she carry at least one, being famously maternal, and held Weevil against her chest like a teddy bear while the Zippleback held the other three. Silver cooed the youngest of the family as though he were a new-born and while Tuffnut was amused by the sight, most of the village looked on in worry knowing that she hadn't met half the family.

"So how long have you been here?" Silver asked the eldest two.

"Got in last night" Tuffnut answered with a proud smile on his face, remembering the rough seas they passed to do so.

"What?!" Silver screeched "You were here yesterday and I didn't know? Aww, I'd have taken you down to the hall, were in celebration!" she smiled happily, bouncing Weevil as she spoke.

"Celebration of what?" Tuffnut could have guessed but the sparkle in Silver's eyes was too tempting.

"We've had our first Night Furies hatched!" Silver looked like she was on cloud nine "They are the cutest things ever and everyone is so proud" she stopped to look straight at Ruffnut with a pair of eyes with an cheekiness to rival Thistle "Lachlan will be very happy to hear you've come back Ruffy"

Tuffnut grinned wildly as his sister blushed madly.