We'll get through this together (A hiccstrid runaway fanfic)

Part 4: Reunion

3rd person POV

"Well, lassie," Gobber began, addressing little Iris, who sat in front of him on the floor.
He had become particularly fond of the little girl over the past few days. She reminded him a lot of his old apprentice, Hiccup.
"Do you think you could tell me your Mommy and Daddy's real names?"

Gobber was using backhand tactics as he knew that he was never going to get the answers out of the riders themselves. He just had a hunch about this. He needed to know if he was right.

"Well," the little girl replied, gazing up at him with her bright, blue eyes, "Mommy's name is Astrid and Daddy's name is Hiccup. Why are you asking? Don't you know their names?"
She looked up at him curiously. Gobber stared at her, consumed in thought. His hunch had been right!

He got up quickly from his seat and hobbled off to find Iris' parents. He found them both, masks on, preparing lunch.
"Hiccup!" Gobber cried, launching himself at the male of the pair, "I knew you weren't dead!" 
Both Astrid and Hiccup stood in shock, before they both removed their masks and embraced the blacksmith in a hug.
"How did you find out?" Hiccup asked.
Gobber looked sheepish, " I may have asked Iris."
Astrid gasped, teasingly, "You took advantage of our daughter? That's low, Gobber"
Gobber and Hiccup chuckled at her tone of voice as Astrid went to collect the said daughter. She soon returned with Iris in her arms.

Just then, the teens came in, bickering as usual, but they stopped in surprise when they saw the two maskless riders.

For a moment, they all just stared at each other silently, the one group not believing what they saw. Here were the two people they thought had been dead for five years and now they find that they were not only alive but had gotten married and had a daughter! It was all too much!

Snotlout fainted. This brought everyone out of their trances. Ruffnutt, who had been one of Astrid's closest friends before she left Berk, embraced her and Iris in a hug. The rest just stood there awkwardly glancing at each other. Except for Tuffnutt. He was poking Snotlout in the face, trying to wake him up. It didn't work, surprisingly.

Eventually, the awkwardness disappeared and a lot of questions began to be asked. Where have you been? What have you been doing? What happened to your leg, Hiccup? Why did you not come back?

Hiccup and Astrid glanced between each other and their daughter before answering their friends' questions. It took quite a while, as there were a lot of things to explain.

Eventually, Gobber asked, "Why don't you return to Berk?"
Hiccup sighed.
"We can't, Gobber."
"Why not?"
"Because everyone thinks we're dead!" Astrid exclaimed, "and also because of the dragons! No one on Berk would accept them, we wouldn't even get the chance to try!"
Hiccup nodded in agreement,"They'd kill them as soon as they saw them"
Iris looked up at her father with big eyes.
"People kill dragons?" she asked, upset.
Hiccup nodded sadly, picking her up and seating her on his lap, "There are some mean people in this world, Iris. Some very mean people."

The Berkians looked at this little girl, one who had been raised among dragons, the first, probably. She didn't think of them as horrid beasts. She cared for them, like family. She loved them.

It was this one fact that opened their minds and made them realise the truth about dragons. And if their minds can be changed, so can the rest of Berk's. They just need some way to convince the two dragon riders to return.

624 words