A few days after Callum's achievement, he and Sharpshot were playing in the yard by the hut with Nightfall. Callum having transformed into his dragon form to grow more accustomed to it.
Revna came outside onto the porch when she spotted the trio in the yard, assuming it was Cassia who was playing with the elderly Terror and young Shadowpaw.
"Cassia! Could you come help me with the furs?!" She yelled with a hand cupping her mouth.
Callum jumped and looked over at her with a tilted head of confusion as his earplate twitched.
Revna huffed at his reaction. "Cassia!!"
Cassia then came out of the forge with a confused look as she approached their grandmother. "Why are you yelling Grandma? I'm right here. Yes, I can help with the furs." She said with crossed arms.
Revna jumped slightly and looked over at her granddaughter, then over at her grandson, then between the two a few more times for good measure before she froze with wide eyes while looking at Callum.
"Callum?!" She exclaimed, which made the hatchling in question jump and land back on his feet with his back arched.
"Wait, what?" Cassia asked, then she looked where their grandmother was only for her eyes to widen in shock, but that quickly changed into excitement as she started to bounce in place with her hands shaking happily. "No way!! You learned how to transform!!"
"Uh..y-yeah." Callum said once he calmed down and made his way to the porch as he transformed back into his human form. "Reading the journal really helped."
"Wait..just from reading the journal?" Revna asked with wide eyes, which earned a nod from the young Haddock.
"Mhm."
"But..how? Sure, it teaches you everything you need to know, but it never once explained how transformations function."
Callum just shrugged as Sharpshot finally caught up to him and landed on his shoulders. Cassia giggled and shook her head.
"Well, I don't think the how is important right now. What is important is the fact that my twin brother can transform at will!" She exclaimed in glee as she hugged Callum, who jumped slightly but then relaxed and hugged her back with a small smile.
At the shouts from their family, the triplets came outside as well to see what the commotion was about.
"The Hel is all this yelling about?" Dart asked, sounding rather annoyed.
"Callum can transform into his dragon form now!!" Cassia said excitedly as she and Callum separated, which made an embarrassed blush appear on her twin's cheeks.
"Wait, really?" Stoick asked with wide eyes.
"Well that was quick." Lief said with a soft chuckle as he crossed his arms and leaned against one of the porch pillars.
"Prove it." Dart said with a skeptical look as she crossed her arms as well.
Callum stiffened up slightly at the look she was giving him, gulping nervously as he nodded then proceeded to transform into his hybrid form then into his dragon form to prove to his family that he had a grasp on the transformations. As he transformed back into his human form, Stoick scooped him up in a hug and spun him around laughing, which made the boy laugh in response as he hugged his older brother back with a huge smile.
Dart rolled her eyes and stormed back into the hut, still clinging to the denial of Callum actually being alive and well, not wanting to believe that the feelings she had deep down were real. Lief watched her storm off with a concerned look, but then sighed and shook his head before he went over to his brothers and ruffled Callum's hair as Stoick set him back on solid ground.
"Nice job Cal. Proud of you." Lief said with a warm smile, which made Callum smile back with one eye closed as his hair was being messed with.
"Thanks Lief."
~~~TDPMS~~~
The following day, Callum had decided to relax in his shared room with Sharpshot snoozing beside him as he sketched on his bed. Over the weeks of travel and the few days that he had been back on New Berk, the pages slowly became filled with drawings of dragons and people he cared about.
The current drawing was of his parents, albeit not very well done. The page was covered in attempts that were scratched through from frustration.
Callum pulled up his charcoal stick as he inspected the current attempt with a skeptical look. "Hmm.."
It was better than the previous ones, but still very rough and jagged. Callum bit his lip in thought, considering if he wanted to start over all over again or leave it be. The drawing itself was of his parents hugging him that fateful night in the cove, but he wasn't sure if he was pleased with the result or not.
Before he could even consider scratching it out, however, Cassia barged in with a grin and slightly covered in dirt. She then spotted Callum on his bed and the grin grew.
"Heya brother of mine! Whatcha doing?" She asked as she made her way over to him to see into the sketchbook.
Callum quickly closed the book and held it close to his chest, earning a pout from his twin as he did so. "N-nothing! Why are you even interested anyway? Also, why are you covered in dirt?"
"I was rough housing with Stoick, now lemme seeee!" She said as she tried to grab the book from him, but Callum just began to push her away with one hand as he held the book as far away from her as he possibly could.
"No!"
"Oh come onnnn! I see you with that thing all the time, just lemme take a peekkkkkk!"
Callum growled softly under his breath. "I said no Cas! This is important to me!"
"What, is it your diaryyy?~ Come onnnn, you're my twin! Just lemme see and I'll leave you alone.~" Cassia teased as she attempted to reach for it again, not noticing the scales forming around Callum's eyes as he grew defensive.
"I said no!" Callum yelled as claws formed on his hands and with that formation came a yelp of pain from Cassia, which made him freeze with wide eyes as she pulled away from him gripping her cheek. "Oh no..Cas I–I didn't mean–"
Tears formed in Cassia's eyes as drips of blood fell from between her fingers and she slowly backed away from Callum's bed then quickly turned on her heels and bolted out of the room.
"Cas!!" Callum exclaimed as he scrambled off the bed and bolted after her. "Cas wait!"
Lief dodged out of the way of Cassia as she dashed down the hallway, then had to do it yet again when Callum did the same. He shook his head with a small smile, but then froze when he noticed the drops of blood on the floor that started from the twins' room as his eyes widened in worry and slight fear.
"Oh gods.." Lief breathed out, then he quickly turned around and dashed after the twins to figure out what exactly happened.
Cassia then proceeded to hide under one of the couches in the living room as she gripped her cheek and silently cried. The scratch wasn't that deep, but it still stung enough to bring her to tears and bleed.
Callum skidded to a stop and looked around the living room to figure out where she ran off to, but before he could actually start a proper search for her, he was grabbed by the shoulders and turned to face Lief.
"Callum, what happened? Are you alright? Where's Cassia?"
"I–I'm okay..I uh..don't know where Cas is and well..we got into a bit of a little fight over my sketchbook and well.." Callum tried to explain, starting to feel the guilt settle in as he talked and began to shake ever so slightly in his brother's grip.
Lief sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose as he let go of his little brother. "And you accidentally clawed her face I take it?"
Callum nodded with a small whimper and Lief sighed yet again and guided Callum over to the stairs.
"Just..wait here alright? I'll find Cassia and we'll explain to her it was an accident. Because it was an accident, right?" Lief asked with a skeptical look, which earned him a rapid nod of the head from the hatchling. "Alright. Just stay there."
Callum hugged himself with a small nod as Lief made his way back into the living room to look for their sister. As he was searching behind one of the couches, he caught a whiff of blood from the other side of the room and followed it, crouching down and peeking under the other couch to find Cassia shaking curled in on herself in the furthest corner of the couch. Lief smiled softly and offered his hand to her.
"Hey Cassia..come on..Callum didn't mean to scratch you..he just got defensive is all.." Lief soothed.
As Cassia grabbed hold of Lief's hand to be brought back out from under the couch, Dart came down the stairs and spotted Callum whimpering by the staircase. She then looked over at their brother and sister to see Lief inspecting the scratch on Cassia's cheek as the hatchling sniffled and wiped at her eye with her clean hand, then back at Callum with a curious look.
"Hey."
Callum jumped slightly and looked up at her, not sure what to say considering how her reactions to him being around have been thus far.
"You okay kid?" Dart asked as she made her way to his side, earning a shake of the head as her answer.
"Not really..no..I hurt Cassia.." Callum muttered as he looked at the floor, not sure if eye contact with Dart was the best idea.
"Well did ya mean to?" She questioned, earning yet another shake of the head. "Okay, then why are you beating yourself up about it?"
"I..well.." Callum tried, but trailed off when he realized he didn't know the answer himself.
Dart took a deep breath and gripped Callum by the shoulder. "Look..you clearly want to apologize to her. But a little "I'm sorry" isn't gonna cut it. If it were me, I'd try to make myself look smaller to show just how sorry I was. I'd show the person I'm trying to apologize to that I was willing to embarrass myself in order to see them happy again. Show them I empathize and want to right my wrongs."
Callum looked up at her curiously as he listened, which made Dart stiffen up slightly as she locked eyes with him. Those forest green pools made her start to crumble in on herself as the thick walls of denial finally crumbled into dust before her very eyes as she saw just how much her little brother looked like their father in that very moment. She couldn't keep denying the fact that this was her actual little brother any longer.
"What..do you mean by that exactly..?" Callum finally asked, which broke her out of her train of thought.
"What I mean is you could do a stupid little dance to apologize. Make a fool of yourself to make her laugh. Dad did that all the time when he accidentally got on Mom's bad side." Dart explained as she let go of his shoulder.
Callum looked over at Cassia and Lief as their older brother cleaned the blood off Cassia's cheek, then back at Dart in question. Dart nodded slightly and ushered him to go over to them and apologize. Callum took a deep breath then slowly made his way over to his siblings, stopping a few feet away from them while wringing his hands from nerves.
"Um..Cassia?" Callum tried, which got her to look at him with a small glare. "I–I'm really sorry..I didn't mean to hurt you..and to prove it to you, you can call me a jerkface or even a muttonhead..I can even do a silly dance on top of that too.."
Cassia crossed her arms as she considered his offer. "Well, I won't deny that you're a muttonhead..but.."
"It'll be a dance of stupitude and sorry-ness." Callum added, which made a sliver of a smirk appear on his twin's lips.
"Oh really? Alright then. Show me this dance of stupitude and sorry-ness you speak of then." She said with her arms crossed.
Callum stepped back slightly as he transformed into his hybrid form, then he splayed out his wings, curled his tail up against his back with the tailfins splayed to the point that the tips were just barely visible behind his head. He then put his hands under his armpits and proceeded to hop about with a goofy little face, stopping after a few hops and moving his head side to side each time. After doing the hops a few times he then proceeded to flap his wings on top of flapping his arms about as he went around in a circle with his legs out to mimic waddling a few times, then he jumped back up and did jazz hands.
Cassia snorted, then started to have a full blown giggle fit as she hugged Callum tightly. Callum smiled a bit and hugged her back just as tight as he transformed back into his human form.
As Dart watched the interaction, she couldn't help but remember the times she witnessed their father do ridiculous dances similar to the one Callum just did to cheer up her and her brothers when they were little or to apologize to their mother if they were bickering with one another. It solidified for her the fact that this was truly her long lost brother, alive and well standing before her hugging his twin sister tight.
~~~TDPMS~~~
Later that evening, Callum decided to go visit the cove and spend some quality time with his parents. Sharpshot had finally gotten up and around from his nap by the time Callum was gathering his cloak to keep himself warm and decided to follow, cozied up in the hood of his boy's cloak as they trekked through the forest with his head resting atop Callum's shoulder.
As they were approaching the entrance to the cove, Kala came their way and stopped when she spotted them, her eyes widening from the sudden appearance of her youngest then glimmering with happiness when she spotted the cloak the hatchling had dawned, gripping her hands to her chest.
"Oh you look absolutely adorable in that cloak my little Bluejay." Kala cooed, which made Callum blush slightly in embarrassment.
"T-thanks Mom. It was a birthday present I got for my birthday last year. Helped hide my hybrid form when I fled Katolis." Callum explained as Kala came over to get a closer look.
She noticed Sharpshot in the hood and gave his head a little scratch in greeting, then she lifted the fabric to figure out the type of material used for it. With how soft the material was, she assumed it had to be a high quality cotton or silk of some kind. Another thing that caught her attention was the scarf that was sewn into the cloak. It was the perfect cloak to keep her son warm and hide his appearance if the need ever arose, which explained why he had utilized it when he fled.
"It suits you very well sweetie. And with the size of it, you still have plenty of room to grow into it. Could last you until adulthood from the looks of it." Kala said with a warm smile.
Callum smiled back and nodded as he wrapped himself further into the cloak. "Yeah..yeah I think so too. It honestly reminds me a lot of the cloak you wear all the time. It's comforting."
"Who gifted it to you?"
"Oh, my friend Soren got it for me. He's the eldest son of Lord Viren, King Harrow's high mage. He had told me he remembered me talking about how cool it would be to have a cloak of my own after I had read stories about you and Dad when I opened it last year. Just never had the chance to use it until I found out the truth of my origins." Callum explained as he looked at the cloak fondly, silently reminding himself to write Soren at some point to stay in touch.
Kala smiled and ruffled his hair as she stood. "That was very sweet of him. He sounds like a wonderful friend. Speaking of friends, I am going to go check on your father and I's."
Callum nodded in understanding with that adorable smile of his, which made Kala smile all the more as she kissed the top of his head then made her way towards the village. As she left, Callum made his way down into the cove where he found his father sitting by the lake on a rock with a stick in hand doodling in the dirt. He tilted his head in curiosity as he looked at the drawing, noticing it was a drawing of his mother's dragon form. Then he recalled what happened earlier that day and bit his lip in a wince.
Hiccup heard this and looked up from the drawing. "Oh hey bud. You alright?"
"Yeah..yeah I'm alright Dad..just remembered what happened earlier today is all.." Callum said as he looked at the ground while gripping his arm.
"What happened?" Hiccup asked as he set the stick to the side and put his full attention on his hatchling.
"I accidentally scratched Cassia when she was trying to look in my sketchbook.."
Hiccup huffed with a soft smile. "It happens Callum, you should see the scars your older siblings have from accidents like those from when they were your age. Did you apologize to her at least?"
Callum nodded which made Hiccup's smile grow slightly in warmth.
"Good, no need to stress over it any longer then, huh?" He said as he stood and ruffled up Callum's hair, which got the hatchling to laugh and in turn Hiccup chuckled.
"So what were you drawing just now Dad?" Callum asked with a curious tilt of the head.
"Oh just drawing your mom. Reminiscing on old times." Hiccup explained, then he chuckled when he saw his son's eyes start to glimmer in curiosity as the boy sat down with his legs crossed and his arms resting atop them patiently. "I'm guessing you wanna hear the story of how your mother and I met?"
Callum nodded with a wide smile. "Uh huh. I read a lot of books that talked about your travels with the other riders and about our family history, but none of them ever brought up how you and Mom met. I'm curious."
"Alright." Hiccup agreed as he grabbed the stick he was using earlier and quickly drew out a map of Old Berk, specifically what it had looked like while Vikings and dragons were still at war with one another. "This…is Berk. It's twelve days north of Hopeless, and a few degrees south of Freezing to Death. It's located solidly on the Meridian of Misery. It's a Viking village. In a word, sturdy. And it's been there for seven generations, but every single building was new. They had fishing, hunting, and a charming view of the sunsets. The only problems were the pests."
Hours passed as Hiccup told Callum the story of how he and Kala met all those years ago. While in the middle of his storytelling, Kala returned from the village to find her husband walking about in front of their attentive son while recounting the events of their teenhood.
"Back then your grandfather was not the greatest dad. He always looked at me with this disappointed scowl, like someone skimped on the meat in his sandwich." Hiccup then cleared his throat and proceeded to do his infamous Stoick impression, which was still not quite on point even after all these years. "Excuse me, barmaid! I'm afraid you brought me the wrong offspring. I ordered an extra large boy with beefy arms. Extra guts and glory on the side. This here, this is a talking fishbone!"
"A handsome one.~" Kala purred out as she approached and kissed Hiccup's cheek, which caused him to blush as Callum stifled his laughter.
"You're back earlier than I thought. How are the others doing?" Hiccup asked once he finally calmed down from the sudden appearance of his wife.
"They're fine. Pulling their same old habits as usual. But, Snotlout isn't drinking as much anymore, so it's an improvement." Kala explained. "But enough about what I was doing. You were telling Callum the story of how we met, yes? Do you want some help?"
Hiccup smiled and nodded slightly. "I would love that."
~~~TDPMS~~~
"Yo, Cassia!" Callum heard as he was walking through the village one afternoon, which caused him to turn to where the call came from with a raised brow of confusion to see a boy rushing over to him while waving.
"Digging the new cut. You feel like switching up your look or somethin'?" The boy asked as he headlocked him.
Callum stiffened up as he gripped the boy's arm with an eye closed, not sure how to respond to him in the slightest.
"Einar, let Callum go!" Cassia shouted as she came over and whacked the boy in the back of the head.
Einar yelped and rubbed the back of his head as he released Callum from his grip, then looked between the twins confused, only for his eyes to widen in realization.
"No wayyyy. He actually came back? I just thought the adults were overreacting about something I didn't care about. Didn't know it was about your long lost bro." He said with wide eyes towards Cassia.
Cassia huffed with crossed arms as she gave her friend a deadpan expression. "You are so slow dude..yes that's my brother. And you better not pick on him, or else you'll be seeing stars for a month."
Einar lifted his arms in surrender. "Duly noted. I would rather stay on your good side."
"Uh..what's going on?" Callum asked as he tilted his head to the right ever so slightly in confusion as he watched his sister interact with her friend.
"Oh! Sorry brother of mine! This is my friend Einar." Cassia introduced, which led to Einar waving in greeting.
"'Sup?"
Callum waved back shyly before he put his full attention back on his sister, having a feeling she wasn't quite done talking just yet.
"We were gonna go watch the Dragon Race. You wanna join us Cal?" She asked, silently hoping he would say yes so she could be part of his first ever experience with watching a Dragon Race on the island.
"Dragon Race?" Callum asked with wide eyes.
"Oh, don't tell me you've never experienced a Dragon Race before dude. They're the best pass time New Berk has to offer!" Einar said excitedly. "Riders fly about the island on their dragons in search of color coded flags, ten to be exact, and whichever team finds all ten of theirs first wins!"
"The riders can even sabotage the other teams. Whether they just want to distract them the entire time or relocate their flags to delay them." Cassia added.
"Huh..yeah, sure I'll come watch with you guys." Callum agreed with a small nod, which made Cassia and Einar smile wide.
"Well then, let's go! The race starts soon!" Cassia exclaimed as she grabbed Callum's hand and dashed towards the stands, Einar following suit as Callum struggled to keep pace with his excited twin.
When they arrived at the stands, there was a small group of kids waiting for them. The group waved as they approached, to which Cassia and Einar returned as Cassia released Callum's hand.
"Hey guys!" Cassia and Einar said in sync with smiles.
"Hey Cas, Einar." The boy in the group said with a nod.
There were three kids in the little group they came up to, the boy that greeted them, and two girls. One of the girls looked at Callum with a raised brow of curiosity.
"Who's this Cas?" She asked as she looked Callum up and down to size him up.
"Guys, this is my twin brother Callum! Callum, these are my friends, Dagwood, Asta, and Gyda."
As they were all introduced they all waved at Callum, which he returned once the introductions were over.
"Nice to meet you all." Callum said as he held his arm nervously.
"We've heard a lot about you Callum, it's nice to finally meet you." Asta said with a warm smile, which made Callum relax slightly as he smiled back.
"You joinin' us to watch the race Callum?" Gyda asked, which earned a nod from the shy hatchling.
"Uh huh. I've never seen a Dragon Race before."
"Wait, what?" Dagwood asked with wide eyes, then he proceeded to grip Callum's shoulders to lock eyes with him with a wide smirk. "You are about to have the time of your life dude!"
And with that the group of six, which will one day be much like the Dragon Riders before them, made their way into the stands to find a good vantage point to see as much of the race as they could to make Callum's first race the best experience it could be. Little did they know, that experience would be the catalyst of a life long friendship between the six of them from that point forward.
~~~TDPMS~~~