A dragon lives forever but not so little boys - Puff The Magic Dragon by Peter, Paul and Mary
We've all read the books (if you haven't, read them. They are better than the movie, even though the movie was still pretty awesome) and we know the adventures and exploits of Hiccup and Toothless. However, what happens to the dragon after Hiccup passes away?
This is an angsty story but there is a happy ending in Chapter 2 (because I'm weird like that.) If you like ambiguous endings, I'd stick to reading just chapter One. But if you want a strange, yet happy ending, read Chapter 2 if you like.
I do not own How To Train Your Dragon! All characters belong to the author and Dreamworks
Read and Review (No flames. Especially not for chapter 2, please!. I wrote that late at night, so it wasn't meant to be good!)
Toothless sat on the grass, watching the sky with saddened eyes. He wasn't small any more. Of course, all the other dragons he had grown up with we're now the size of leopards and, in the case of Dogsbreath's, small horses, and he was barely the size of a large medium sized dog, but he wasn't the cat-sized dragon he had been at the bottom of hiccups basket over fifty years ago.
Fifty years... Barely a blink in the eye of a dragon's life. He knew he would live for centuries, that he was barely in the adolescent years of a dragon, but it made no difference to how heavy he felt in his heart. He had known this day would come, from the moment he had first befriended that strange little boy, he knew that he would be sat here, feeling exactly this. It didn't make it any easier though...
'Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III'
'Brave Warrior and Friend to all Dragons' it read. A fitting tribute.
He had died three days ago, not in a blaze of glory like some of his fellows, but in the dragon caves. He had gone there with Toothless to see the hatching of a new nest of dragons, to research the break pattern on the egg or some nonsense; Toothless had never understood his ways at the best of times. Halfway into the tunnel, Hiccup's heart had given way. Toothless tried his best to help, dragging him into the cave and trying to revive him, but it had been no use. Hiccup had died soon after, perhaps in the most fitting fashion, surrounded by the dragons that he loved.
He hadn't been the first to go though. Snotlout had died in a battle a year previously, barely a month after he and Hiccup had finally buried the hatchet. He had been struck down by an enemy axe midway through the battle, his fall enraging his dragon Fireworm so much that she had surged forwards and engulfed half the artillery in flames and then killed the enemy leader with one foul strike of her gigantic tail.
His funeral had been flashy, Fireworm sending up a cloud of smoke and sparks in her grief, but Hiccup's had been a quiet affair. The entirety of the tribes had attended the memorial and the grand feast, but only a few oversaw the actual burial. Fishlegs and Camicazi had stood on the shoreline, Toothless, Horror Cow and Stormfly sat at their feet, watching the boat sail out into the middle of the lake before Toothless sent a spark from his mouth, which sailed out to the boat, lighting the boat ablaze.
As the final few flames died out as the boat was swallowed by the waves, they broke down, sitting themselves on the cliff top where Old Wrinkly had sat and watched them fishing so many years ago.
They had changed, though they still remained very similar in manner. Fishlegs was now the greatest Berserker ever to come out of the Isles of Berk, though when calm and subdued he still was meek and had his familiar squint. Camicazi was, following the death of her mother, the leader of the Bog Burglar Tribe and was the greatest living burglar in all of the inner Isles, but she was still mischievous at heart and liked nothing more than to play tricks on her friends. But all frivolities had gone and they had sat, quiet and reserved on the cliff top, watching as the stars began to wink into the black of night.
The following days were quiet and meek. No one talked much, their leader now dead and gone. There had been stirrings over who would be his successor, some saying Fishlegs and others saying Hiccups son, who was only ten years old and in no state to rule. Finally, it was decided that Fishlegs would be regent until the son was old enough to rule properly.
Toothless hung around the house, either picking fights with the other dragons or teasing the child, who didn't mind the rough and tumble games that he liked to play. But Toothless knew that he would outlive not only this child he now played with, but also outlive his son and his son and, perhaps, that sons' son. Who knew? But he did know that he would watch friends grow old like he already had. And he did.
As the years passed, Hiccups stone memorial was joined by others.
'Fishlegs, Great Berserker And A True Friend'
'Camicazi Bog Burglar. Chieftain and trouble maker.'
Hiccups son took to studying dragons likewise father, continuing the study that Toothless' Hiccup had never seen finished. But years on, Toothless had aged but only a little, but nevertheless a new stone appeared next to his beloved master.
'Hiccup IV. Great Chieftain and the apple of his father's eye.'
Then there was Camicazi's children, Snotlout's children, Hiccups grandchildren, Fishlegs children and so on until three generations had passed. The Hiccups were still renowned dragon researchers , The Camicazi's were still burgling and the Fishlegses were still berserkers.
What Toothless found amusing was that, fourth generation in and there was always a group hanging out together with their dragons, a Hiccup, a Camicazi and a Fishlegs always getting into trouble. It reminded him of the old days.
As he watched the years roll by with the other dragons, they hardly aged at all. The others slowly retreated into caves on wild dragon cliff to live out their eternity with other dragons, but Toothless remained. He didn't know why, but he figured that maybe, just maybe this heartless dragon had grown one over the years. And as each day passed he continued to play with the children and he realised slowly that this is how he ways wanted to be, forever playful. Sometimes his grand-masters would bring him winkles in exchange for stories. Of course, they could get them for free from their parents or from the memoirs in the Berk public library, but they loved Toothless telling them best. They would often run up to him yelling:
"Mister Toothless! Mister Toothless! Tell me the story where you and Hiccup the Warrior were Trapped in the cave with the Nadders" or The one where Ivan the Terrible captured you" and Toothless would say in his normal, little kid stammer "Alr-r-right, Toothless tell you bu-bu-but only if you get T-t-toothless some winkles..."
He visited Hiccups memorial every day, which overlooked the lake which he was buried in, and talked about his day, often moaning, but he could tell Hiccup didn't mind much. Occasionally he cried, other times he crowed at the moon, but he knew he would never desert his post as protector of the village. He had promised hiccup on his deathbed and, despite the other dragons slowly leaving, sinking into the sea from whence they came, toothless remained. He stayed until the final citizen of the Hooligan tribe had left for the mainland. It had been Hiccups great-great-great-great-great-great grandson, and before leaving with his son he had turned to the dragon and hugged him.
"Thank you, Toothless. Your faithful to the last."
"Your W-W-Welcome m-m-master Hiccup." Toothless smiled
"Where will you go now?" The man asked
"Oh, I d-d-don't know. I'll wander. P-P-Perhaps find a new village to protect."
"Just don't remain here." The man warned "I can't bear the thought of you here alone."
"Even if I d-d-did, I w-w-wouldn't b-b-be alone. Hiccup is still here."
"I know he is." Hiccup drew himself up to the dragons height and said profoundly "Goodbye, Toothless, defender of the tribe of the Hairy Hooligans. May you live in peace until the end of time."
"Y-y-you to." Toothless smiled sadly, watching as the man loaded his belongings and his family into his boat. His baby, Hiccups Great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandson, reached out and touched toothless on the nose and toothless warmed inside, watching as the ship sailed away into the distance.
He remained at the foot of Hiccups memorial until the sea was lapping at his feet. It would soon sink the entire island.
"P-P-Perhaps if I w-w-wait long enough, the isle will r-r-rise again and maybe you'll r-r-return." He sighed, allowing sleep to claim him, the water slowly washing over him until he became submerged, sleeping along with all the other ageless dragons. There they slept. They didn't know how long they would sleep for, perhaps twenty years, perhaps eternity, until they sensed the world was ready for the time of dragons once again.