An Attempt to Fix HTTYD3

by Raberba girl

An Attempt to Fix "How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World."

An Attempt to Fix 'How to Train Your Dragon 3', a DreamWorks' "How to Train Your Dragon" fanfic by Raberba girl (rough draft)

A/N: I have zero patience left for creators ruining their own stories and fans cheering them on, so please do not defend Dean DeBlois's terrible script to me. See the ending author's notes on AO3 for my very detailed criticisms of the film (all related to the script; I had no problem with the animation, music, acting, or anything else).

This fic is not my best work, and writing it was as unpleasant as trying to write an essay for school. I eventually gave up trying to write it as a full story.

o.o.o

The sun shone brightly on the small island of Berk, reflecting off the colorful scales of its winged inhabitants and flashing off the metal of two swords. The bride and groom were both beaming as they symbolically exchanged the weapons, looking at each other with deep and brimming affection. Their gaze only broke whenever their curious Night Fury and Nadder got too nosy or restless, nudging into them in attempts to see what all the fuss was about, but as soon as Hiccup and Astrid soothed their companions, their eyes always returned to each other as if irresistibly drawn.

When a sow was led forward, one of the newer dragons grew still and alert in excitement, but the mother of the groom quickly blocked her way forward, chirring quietly so as not to disturb the ceremony. "Not prey, friend. Food later."

The dragon ruffled her wings in displeasure, but a few of the legacy dragons who had been living on Berk for years hissed at her, and she settled down in submission.

The sow was dedicated by Gothi and then led aside, making way for a bowl of mead symbolically representing its blood. Gothi dipped a bundle of fir twigs into the bowl and used it to sprinkle the bride and groom, who then exchanged rings.

With their newly-bedecked hands joined together on the sword hilt, Hiccup and Astrid vowed their lives and love to each other, then kissed as the rest of their tribe cheered and some of the watching dragons, excited by the noise, sent plumes of flame into the air. Valka had both a smile on her face and tears in her eyes as she watched, keenly aware of who was missing from this celebration. She leaned against Cloudjumper, who lowered his head and crooned into her hair to comfort her.

The chief and chiefess finally broke apart, laughing, then Hiccup eyed his new wife with a glint in his eye that she instantly recognized as a wordless challenge. Though their gazes were still locked, their hands were already creeping across the scales of their dragon companions. Toothless and Stormfly, bedecked with paint and flowers, grew alert as they read their humans' body language and intent.

Quick as a flash, riders leaped onto scaled backs, and the chase was on. The Vikings' cheering and laughter intensified as they ran after the racing couple, and many dragons soared up toward the Great Hall along with their alpha.

Hiccup reached the threshold first and crowed in triumph, Toothless preening with pride at their victory. Astrid dismounted and approached in her wedding finery, head held high and eyebrow raised. Hiccup gestured toward the doorway in a show of graciousness, then made a slightly uncertain move to pick up his new bride. He wasn't quite sure he would be able to lift Astrid, if he'd be able to endure the extra weight causing a lot of pain where the stump of his leg met the prosthetic. If it was bad enough, he might drop her.

His worries became moot when Astrid grinned and scooped up Hiccup instead, carrying her new husband through the doorway as he groaned in good-natured self-deprecation and their friends called teasingly after them.

The wedding feast was glorious chaos. Of course there was food in abundance for both species, and plenty of mead and ale. The Vikings were even rowdier than usual as they congratulated the couple and held arm-wrestling contests and insult exchanges, telling tall tales and getting drunk. Dragons wound their way through it all, the bigger ones casually knocking aside tipsy Vikings as they made their way through and smaller ones getting in little squabbles or falling into vats of stew.

"Well, it's about time!" Snotlout announced, draping himself heavily across Hiccup's and Astrid's shoulders as they both tried to lean away from his bad breath. "Been, what, five, six years? You can thank me whenever you're ready, I accept gratitude gifts in the form of either sheep or baby yaks."

"Thank you for what, Snotlout?" Astrid asked wryly.

"You know, how I brought you together? Yeah, it was all my master plan, always knew you two were made for each other. And of course, Astrid, if Chief Gimpy here ever kicks the bucket, you know who your consolation prize is, right?" He made a series of exaggerated winks.

"Ugh. Don't make me punch you at my wedding, Snotlout."

As Snotlout gave them one last amiable clap on the back and then unsteadily lurched off, Fishlegs came prancing up, a baby Gronckle in a pouch at his belly. "Oooohhh, you two must be so happy~! How many kids do you think you'll have? I'm an awesome babysitter, Meatlug and I'll babysit all your little ones, and they can meet-!"

"Whoa, whoa, Fishlegs, we're not even thinking about kids yet!"

Ruffnut, slurping at some kind of meat pie nearby, pointed out, "Uh, then what did Gothi do all those fertility rites for?"

Hiccup and Astrid stuttered together, "It's, y'know- Future- Make some plans- Got enough on our plate at the moment...!"

As if on cue, one of the scouts burst into the Great Hall with his dragon, shouting for Hiccup. "Chief! Trapper ships spotted!"

Silence abruptly fell, and some of the dragons looked around in confusion. All human eyes were on the chief, who glanced at his new bride. Astrid smiled, Hiccup smiled back. Then he turned to his tribe and cried, "To battle stations!" as he slung off his wedding cloak and whistled for his dragon.

It didn't take long at all for the Hooligans to shift from Wedding Mode to Rescue Mode. Through the evening shadows they flew, and Hiccup nudged Toothless close to Cloudjumper. "So, Mom, what do you think of just a small team of us going in, me and Astrid and the others, while everyone else flies a perimeter?"

"I don't know, Hiccup, what do you think?" she said with a pointed smile.

"Well, I mean, just, you have a lot more experience than we do, and-"

"And you've all put in many hours of training, and I think it's time to see how well you all stretch your wings."

"What?! But I- We're not-!"

"I believe in you, son!" Valka said with a sunny smile as she nudged Cloudjumper high and away.

Hiccup nervously ran a hand through his hair. "Hah. Okay. Test time, come on, Hiccup, you can do this, we've practiced... We can do this, right, bud? Snotlout and the twins can't possibly mess up that bad, right?"

Toothless made a grumbling sound.

"Yeah, you're right, we're screwed..."

Hiccup's team landed quietly. It wasn't until they were actually on the deck that Hiccup realized Fishlegs had brought an unexpected companion. "You brought the baby?" he hissed incredulously, staring at Fishmeat's (admittedly adorable) happy face.

"I couldn't find a sitter!" Fishlegs whisper-squealed back anxiously.

"Oh, for crying out..." Hiccup ran a hand down his face in exasperation.

"Too late now," Astrid said briskly. She gestured forcefully in the directions everyone was meant to go, and they all scattered.

Out in the open, guards were patrolling between the cages of captive dragons, keeping an eye out for the dragon riders they'd been warned about. One of them reached the end of his route and turned to head back in the opposite direction, but then gasped and leaped back in surprise and fear. Out of the fog emerged two dark figures, a faceless specter bearing a blade of flames and a glowing, serpentine monster stalking at its side.

"Odin save us!" the guard screamed, and flung his lantern at the monsters. The taller one knocked it aside and it shattered on the deck, the fire inside flaring as the fuel spread. The creatures walked right through the flames, which prompted the guard to scream again and flee.

Hiccup twitched up his visor to grin at his partner. "Glad you finally shed enough scales to make this suit, bud. Fireproofing works great!" He demonstratively passed his forearm through the flames, watching them lick harmlessly at the scaled armor.

The next moment, however, it was visor down again and weapon raised, because the guard's shout had brought others running, meaning that their posts were now empty and the rest of the riders could start freeing captives. Astrid began to break locks on the cages, keeping half an eye on Hiccup. Although he was better at combat now than he had been when he was younger, it wasn't his strong suit, and there was only one of Toothless. It was Astrid's job to come in as backup if/when the distraction started working too well and Hiccup got overwhelmed by opponents.

The guards had come with weapons raised, but they balked at the sight of the otherwordly creatures they faced. A couple pivoted and immediately ran away again. "You fools!" a veteran cried, "It's just the dragon rider chief and his Night Fury! Kill them!"

Though the guards still looked afraid, they weren't quite as horrified as they had been, and their weapons were starting to swing into place. Hiccup wasted no time; as Toothless beside him roared and began to whip his tail at the guards on one side, Hiccup charged at the ones on the other with his fiery blade.

The rest of the team, once discovered about ten minutes later, were not nearly so efficient. Snotlout, bragging at a guard, didn't notice his butt catching on fire, and the twins burst into an obnoxious introduction earlier than necessary, leaving only Fishlegs to continue freeing dragons. (Valka, observing from above with Cloudjumper, sounded more resigned than confident as she reassured her dragon.) "Hiccup!" Astrid shouted, wrenching a guard's arm back, "get to the cages, we've got this!"

Hiccup immediately moved to obey, pausing only to exchange a glance with Toothless and wordlessly agree to separate. If Hiccup got into trouble, he would call, but in the meantime, Toothless would continue the fight while Hiccup did what he did best: soothing frightened or angry dragons and coaxing them to freedom.

Once all the captive dragons were freed, Toothless started to rush after the others, then paused when he caught a startingly familiar, intriguing scent. He followed his nose to a cage, where he tried to puzzle out what the "almost-a-nightwing-but-not-quite" edge was. He squinted into the shadows, unable to make sense of the shape inside. It was...probably a dragon? It looked nothing like a Night Fury, though, and he couldn't make out a head or tailfins or proper wings. Most likely camouflage, though it didn't seem like that of any species he knew. He didn't have time to investigate further, however, because his human was calling him urgently. Toothless knew they were surrounded by enemies and needed to go.

Still, he couldn't leave a fellow dragon imprisoned by monster-humans, so he spat a shot of fire at the 'lock' that kept the cage closed and batted at the bars so that the damaged cage door swung open. "Run!" he called urgently to the dragon inside.

The blurry lump moved cautiously, starting creep toward the door; Toothless bounded inside and forcibly shoved the dragon out. He was nearly overwhelmed by the "ALMOST-A-NIGHTWING-BUT-NOT-QUITE!" scent, but then was distracted by approaching enemies. He roared at them and charged, caught sight out of the corner of his eye of the freed dragon taking off from the deck, then, satisfied, rushed to rejoin his human.

He didn't see the tranquilizer dart strike the other dragon's neck, and he certainly didn't see her struggling through the air closer and closer to shore, straining to resist the drug, until she finally succumbed and crash-landed near the village of Berk.

o.o.o

Berk looked wonderfully homey when approached at night after a tiring yet successful rescue mission. Though most of the dragons had settled in to eat their last meal before bed, the winds and waters around the island were much more still and peaceful than they were during the day, the hearth fires in the buildings and the guardian towers glowed in the darkness, inviting the Hooligans home.

Fishlegs, knowing he needed more practice, leaped off of Meatlug when they were close enough and used his glider to coast into the village square. His landing was a bit rough and Hiccup worried about the hatchling, but Gronckles, even baby ones, were tough, and Fishmeat seemed none the worse for wear. Hiccup gave the little one a last pat and then straightened up, looking around and basking in victory.

At the commotion, the dragons of Berk were emerging from the Great Hall and the stables and various homes, coming to greet the newly-freed captives, many accompanied by their humans. The newcomers seemed nervous at first, nostrils flaring as they looked around the human village, but the positive scents on Berk's flock reassured most of them. Any who still didn't trust their rescuers enough to stay flew off into the night for more secluded hiding places, unhindered.

Hiccup turned to his bride and raised an inviting eyebrow. "Well, milady, now that the dramatic rescue is taken care of, shall we pick up where we left off?"

She chuckled as she turned away and began to stroll toward the chieftain's house, deliberately rolling her hips in a way that made her husband's eyes widen. "Sounds good to me, Mr. Hofferson."

Hiccup laughed and, along with their dragons, followed her all the way to the main bedroom, which had been decorated for the night as a bridal suite. He watched Astrid re-arraying herself in her bridal crown before she cleared her throat meaningfully and he started to attention. He moved to the entrance of the house and shouted, "Hey! Witnesses needed here!"

"Oh, dude, they're doing it!" Snotlout's voice floated back from somewhere in the courtyard, along with an excited squeal from Fishlegs.

"We're kinda busy here, chief!" Tuffnut yelled back. "Trying to have a wedding night when we're not finished partying; some people are so inconsiderate..."

Hiccup rolled his eyes but waited patiently, and soon his mother and peers emerged from the crowd of Vikings and dragons and began making their way to the house. Snotlout and Ruffnut tramped through the doorway, yelling obnoxiously; Eret clapped Hiccup on the back as he passed, and Fishlegs immediately started fussing with the decorations, making sure each ribbon and flower petal was just so ("Come on, Legs, they're gonna have more interesting things on their minds in a minute!").

Valka paused and laid a hand on her son's shoulder. "I'm so happy for you, son," she murmured warmly.

"Thanks, Mom."

"I just wish your father could have seen this..."

Hiccup bit his lip and looked away, guilty that he'd stalled getting married for so long that the union Stoick had so looked forward to had only come to pass after his life ended.

"He would be proud, Hiccup," Valka insisted, cupping her son's face in her hand and gently drawing him to meet her eyes again. "And so am I. This means a lot to me, Hiccup, seeing you happy."

He gave her a small, lopsided smile, then her mouth quirked into a more mischievous grin and she pushed him toward the bedroom. "Go."

When Hiccup entered, all the attendants cheered loudly, startling the dragons. Hiccup took his place, standing face to face with Astrid before the bed, and an anticipatory hush fell. Stormfly was peering in through the window and Toothless was loosely curled around Hiccup, both of them looking curious. "Astrid Hofferson," Hiccup announced, taking hold of the bridal crown and doing his best to lift it away from her head in a ceremonious way, "I take you as my-"

"Ow!"

"Sorry, sorry!" he yelped, fumbling with the lock of golden hair that had gotten caught in the crown and tugged a little too sharply. It was Eret who stepped up and actually succeeded in disentangling it, though. Hiccup shot him a sheepish smile of gratitude, then looked at Astrid and finished in a rush, blushing with embarrassment, "I take you as my wife to cherish forever!" He handed the crown off to his mother, who caressed it briefly before stepping back.

"Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III," Astrid said, removing his belt with the wedding sword buckled to it, "I take you as my husband to cherish forever." She handed the sword belt to Snotlout, who brandished it and hooted his signature triumphant cry before being elbowed in the side by Fishlegs.

"This union is legally binding," Valka announced, being the senior attendant and mother of the groom, "having been observed by these six witnesses." She glanced at the dragons. "These eight witnesses," she corrected, making everyone laugh.

"Great, they're married; can we go eat some more now?" Tuffnut spoke.

"Yes, please," Hiccup said, and Astrid made little shooing motions at everyone with her hand.

As the attendants began to trickle out, talking and laughing, Astrid went to the window and caressed her dragon. "Go on, girl," she murmured affectionately, gesturing. "I'll see you in the morning." Stormfly cooed and retreated, and Astrid drew the curtain closed.

Valka was the final attendant to leave, stealing one last fond look back before she drew the door shut behind her. There was a pause. Then the door opened again so that Hiccup could half-lead, half-push out a very confused Toothless. "Heyyy, bud, so you know I love you lots, but, uh, I need you to hang out in the stables or something tonight, okay? I'm, uh, gonna be busy." Toothless made an inquiring woofing noise, and Hiccup planted a kiss on the top of his head and ruffled his head plates. "We'll do lots of flying tomorrow, okay? I promise."

The door shut again. Toothless went still, plates cocked, and stared for a minute. Then there came a gasping squeal and a burst of laughter from the other side of the door, and Toothless huffed in annoyance, trotting off to find something more interesting to do.

o.o.o

Years ago, when Hiccup had been a very small boy, he had been hungry for stories, particularly fresh ones brought from the few travelers who braved Berk's dangerous skies long enough to make it to the village. During quiet moments, his father would sometimes pick him up in his arms and tell or retell Hiccup's favorite tales, an affectionate smile on his face as he looked at his boy, with all those delicate features that reminded him of the child's mother.

"Dad, tell me about the dragons."

"Which tale about the dragons?" Stoick chuckled, since he knew many.

"The one where they all go away and stop attacking us."

"Ah," Stoick said, sobering. "You mean the one about the Hidden World. Now, mind you, this is a story I heard from Trader Johann, who heard it from a sailor from a faraway land, who heard it from-"

"-his former captain," Hiccup continued with a little grin, "who heard it from-"

"-his first mate, who'd once been married to a princess," they finished together, and chuckled in solidarity. "Well," Stoick said, "according to legend, beyond the edge of the world lies a mysterious land where dragons first descended from the fiery clouds. Someday, Hiccup... Someday, we'll drive them all out for good, and they'll go to live in their own land across the sea and leave us in peace."

"You think it'll happen when I grow up, Dad? Maybe I won't be very good at fighting..."

"You're my son, Hiccup, and your mother's. How could you not be the finest warrior Berk has ever seen?"

o.o.o

The curtain glowed with early morning sunlight, stray sunbeams managing to get through around the edges and play over the shapes of two bodies resting beneath the blankets. There was a thumping sound, and a light plume of dust fell. A pause, then another thump.

Hiccup grunted, and curled slightly closer into his new bride.

Thump. A pause, then a demanding dragon cry from the roof.

"Uuunnnggghh," Hiccup mumbled into Astrid's hair.

A Nadder's cheerful face suddenly popped through the window, nearly yanking the curtain from its fastenings, and Stormfly croaked out a loud greeting.

"Ggggnnnhh," Astrid moaned.

There was a series of heavy scrambling noises, a brief pause, then a slam from the front door and rapidly approaching heavy feet. One second later, an energetic Night Fury had bounded into the room and hoisted himself upward, setting his paws on the bed and its occupants.

"Ow!" Hiccup then chuckled and lifted an arm to scratch at his dragon's head. "And what do you want this early in the morning, Mr. Bossy?" he teased.

"Rawk!" Stormfly called.

"I'm comin', I'm comin'," Astrid mumbled, flopping a hand in the general direction of the window.

Once the newlyweds were up and dressed, they went for their usual morning flight, which seemed particularly glorious this morning. The four figures soared high and far, weaving through the clouds, Astrid occasionally dancing from one dragon to another, Hiccup falling with her in his arms and the dragons on either side. An hour passed far too quickly, and Hiccup sighed in contentment as they finally slowed and headed back home, sweat drying on his skin and the wind brushing through his hair. "My life is perfect," he announced.

Back in the village, they were hailed with a congratulatory cheer, but very quickly it was back to the mundane grind of life. After breakfast, Hiccup and Astrid split the governing tasks, seeing to disputes and reports and in-progress projects. They were so busy that they barely noticed their bored dragons wandering off, though Hiccup in particular often thought longingly of the pleasant days when he'd been free to explore and study his beloved dragons from sunrise to sunset.

Stormfly went to mingle with her troop and some other Nadders, and to show the ropes to some of the new dragons from the previous night's rescue. Toothless, more restless and lonely with his other half's preoccupation, began to wander through the woods, perhaps with the vague thought of visiting the old cove.

Then he came across the "almost-a-nightwing-but-not-quite" scent again, and his attention was immediately caught. He stood very still, plates cocked, pupils contracted. Now that he wasn't distracted by more urgent matters, he was able to investigate fully.

There was something...slightly off about it, in addition to the "but not quite." Something that hadn't been there the first time. This dragon might be sick, and an instinct told Toothless to keep his distance, but his curiosity at getting to see another of his own kind again after so long was too great.

He slinked cautiously through the forest, following his nose, utterly silent.

Then he found her. He paused at the edge of the clearing, staring. Now he knew what the "not quite" was - she was a nightwing like him, to be sure, but one from farther north, where blending in with the snow suited them better than trying to hide in the night sky.

There was something wrong with her. In addition to the faint scent of dried blood, there was the undertone that hinted she might be sick, that something was currently coursing through her veins which no healthy dragon ought to have. Her stance was strange, sitting ungracefully with forelegs braced against the ground as if she was struggling not to collapse, or as if she'd meant to rise to her feet but had forgotten to finish the gesture. Her eyes were muddled and confused, gazing off in the distance at nothing in particular, as if she wasn't fully present.

Toothless finally tiptoed forward. He kept low to the ground but plates raised in a friendly way, "I am not a threat, only curious." She didn't respond, either in interest or fear. Toothless reached her and sniffed. The scents on her body told him that she had been handled by humans recently and had occasionally brushed up against other dragons, but there was a lot of fear and misery. Bad humans, then; maybe the ones Hiccup was always fighting. The dragon's flock scents were so faint that it was hard to pick up on any details; she had been separated from them for a long time.

Toothless warbled a tentative greeting, but she didn't respond to that, either, not even with a rebuff. She simply continued to sit there, swaying a little, looking at nothing. Puzzled and a little discouraged, Toothless began to circle her, and crooned in dismay when he found that one of her tailfins was injured. Not as badly as his, good good good; just torn a little. She wouldn't be able to fly well or far, but maybe Hiccup with his clever paws would be able to fix it like he'd fixed Toothless's lost fin. "You will be all right," Toothless assured her.

All she did was heave herself, slowly and shakily, to her feet, and take a few wobbling steps. Then she plopped down again as if in exhaustion and continued gazing at nothing, her head hanging.

'She is sick. Hiccup will know what to do.' Toothless whirled and went to fetch his human, as well as Hiccup's dragon-in-a-human-body dam.

Hiccup and Astrid were enjoying a break, chewing on some jerky as they leaned against each other and chatted quietly. They'd had to actually hide behind a barn so that no one would find them and interrupt with an allegedly 'pressing' matter before they were ready to get back to work. Astrid had immediately laid out a 'no talking about work while we're taking a break' rule, and Hiccup had tried valiantly to follow it, but he kept slipping up, musing aloud about unsolved problems and potential solutions.

Toothless, following his nose, found them quickly. He barged into the narrow space between the barn wall and a stack of barrels, vocalizing urgently at Hiccup.

"Toothless! Where've you been all morning?"

"Come on, let's go!"

"Toothless, what-?" The dragon impatiently seized his sleeve and started dragging him.

"I think he wants you to follow him," Astrid said in amusement.

"Yeah, I caught that, Astrid, thanks."

Valka, noticing her son being towed across the village, joined up with them without having to be summoned, and the little group all moved together into the woods.

At the edge of the clearing, Toothless let go and bounded over to the white shape in the vegetation, prancing urgently around her in a circle before going stock-still and pinning Hiccup with an intent gaze.

After Hiccup's initial exclamation, the three humans slowly approached in awe. "It's like a...a Bright-"

"It's a Light Fury," Astrid murmured, almost at the same time.

"Yeah, yours is better," Hiccup conceded. He smiled and stretched out his hand. "Hey there, girl."

He'd suspected that his usual 'hand thing' wouldn't work, because he was noticing all the signs Toothless had earlier that there was something wrong with this dragon. "What happened to you?" Hiccup murmured, very gently cupping her face in his hands and trying to tip her head up to get a better look at her eyes. She drunkenly jerked her head out of his hold, but when she tried to move away, she stumbled a bit and went still again. "It's like she's drugged or something," Hiccup observed, frowning.

"Son." At Valka's quiet but urgent call, Hiccup and Astrid circled around and saw where Valka's hand was hovering over the tail injury.

"Oh no," Hiccup breathed in dismay.

"Will stitches help?" Astrid asked.

"Yes, I think so," Valka said, her relief palpable enough for Toothless to sense it and relax. "Let's get her to Gothi. Gently, now. She's a wild creature and likely won't take kindly to humans, were she in her right mind." She was now frowning at the Light Fury's glazed blue eyes.

The white dragon resisted the humans' efforts to move her, but she did, very slowly and reluctantly, pace along when Toothless pressed himself against her side and nudged her in the right direction. Hiccup and Astrid went to fetch a spare boat sail, and soon returned. Between the four of them, they managed to get the Light Fury onto the sail, where she lay as if exhausted and half closed her eyes. She didn't stir the entire way they were dragging her to the village.

Once there, a crowd of humans and dragons quickly gathered, amazed at the sight of another Fury. "Guys, come on, move aside, she's injured, we have to get her to Gothi."

In the healer's hut, Gothi inspected the dragon and her injury, then began to crush some herbs with a mortar and pestle. Once she had spread the numbing mixture on the area around the injury, Valka with her steadier hands neatly stitched the wound. Hiccup bandaged it, wrapping it in such a way that the bandages couldn't be knocked or easily pulled off, and added a layer with a fire resistant coating of dragon spit. Then he sat back on his heels and exhaled. "Well, we'll see if that does the trick."

"We should let her rest now," Valka said, lightly running her hand over the Light Fury's brow.

Toothless, who'd been watching anxiously, sniffed at the Light Fury again and then lay down beside her. Fishlegs, who had been drawing her for the dragon book, exclaimed in dismay as his view was blocked.

"Just draw a Night Fury and don't shade it in," Hiccup suggested.

After that, there was nothing else to do for the Light Fury except to let her sleep.

o.o.o

When the Light Fury opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was an excitedly wiggling Night Fury staring at her with a dopey, toothless grin. She snorted in alarm and scrambled back, knocking over everything in her path. Horrified at finding herself in a human den, she broke out into the sunlight - only to come up short in shock at the sight of myriad types and numbers of dragons swarming amiably among huge pack of humans.

The sight was too much, too nonsensical. She tried to take to the skies, but her injured tail jerked her rudely back to earth. Terrified, she fled on foot, finally managing to escape into the trees.

Toothless rushed after her, barking and calling, but she was too scared to even register him until they were a long way from the village. The Light Fury dove into a cave and hid there for hours. Hiccup and Astrid eventually caught up, but were soon shooed away by Toothless, who could tell that the Light Fury needed to be alone for a while to feel safe. Toothless humbly kept watch, no longer trying to engage her.

It was long after dark fell when the Light Fury finally felt safe enough to venture back out into the open. She looked around at the quiet forest, empty of humans. She glanced at Toothless for a long moment, then away in disinterest. She lowered her head and started worrying at the bandage on her tail.

Toothless diffidently approached and croaked to get her attention. As best he could, he tried to explain that the strange, restrictive coverings were helping her hurt tail to heal, and he held out his own tail in demonstration. "My tail was hurt much more badly than yours, but it is fixed now, and I can fly again."

The Light Fury narrowed her eyes and stretched out her neck to sniff at the prosthetic. She snorted in displeasure at the strong human scent, and turned away again, this time intent on finding food.

o.o.o

Late that night, while Hiccup was poring over all the books and records he could find that might have any hint of information on Light Furies (not that they would have been called that, of course), he heard something like an explosion outside. He locked eyes with Astrid, who'd been working on household records on the other side of the room, then they both hurried to the door, grabbing weapons as they went.

One of the buildings closer to the shoreline was on fire. There were dark shapes of ships in the water, and distant shouting of warriors.

[This was about where I gave up writing this story fully. Insert battle scene here; Berk is attacked by an anti-dragon force and eventually repelled; Toothless caught wind of the fighting at some point and came flying in to help.]

Hiccup felt sick as he walked through the remains of his village in the ashy light of dawn. It had been six years since he had seen or felt the aftermath of a battle on his home turf, and it was so ugly. The war had been over for so long, he had never expected to experience this horror again, he had thought he'd made a world that would be safer for his children to grow up in. Yet once again, the island of Berk was covered with burned buildings, bleeding casualties, and ruined resources.

'At least the dragons are on our side this time...' Hiccup caressed Toothless's hide for comfort and then went back to bandaging wounds and receiving reports.

Once the worst of it was taken care of, he met with his team in the smoldering remains of his house. "Hiccup," Eret said, looking a little gray, "I know who attacked us."

"Who?" Hiccup asked sharply. Most of the invaders hadn't been Vikings. They'd been as foreign and motley as Drago's armies, and many had borne accents similar to Eret's.

"My... I think it was- my father."

There was a pause.

"Whoooaa, you have a father?" one of the Thorstons remarked.

Astrid sighed deeply, Valka blinked slowly in disbelief, and Hiccup facepalmed, both exasperated and also kind of wanting to cry at how welcome the comic relief was.

"Ohhhh, Eret Father Of Eret!" Fishlegs realized, and Eret gave a wan smile of confirmation.

"All right, so tragic backstory time, shoot," Snotlout said in a businesslike way, gesturing for Eret to talk.

"Er- Well, there's...not much to tell, really... Demanding father, screw-up son, left home to earn fame and glory, ended up as vassal to a barbarian warlord instead..."

Hiccup raised an eyebrow.

"Dragonlord," Eret amended. "And really, you're all quite civilized for barbarians, at least your generation is."

"Right, well, let's get on to all the super-interesting details like where we can maybe track down this guy," Hiccup sighed, "because much as I want to avoid a war, we can't just not respond to an attack like this."

o.o.o

After a few days of rebuilding and preparation, during which Toothless frequently visited the Light Fury and hovered as close as she allowed (which was not very close), Hiccup left Gobber in charge and then took his team out to track down Eret Sr.'s base of operations. The first day was just a bunch of flying and listening to Snotlout and the Thorstons being bored. When it started to get dark, they landed on a tiny island to make camp for the night.

After supper, everyone settled down to their own devices, Fishlegs reading the Dragon Book to Fishmeat as if it was a bedtime story, Snotlout and Ruffnut having some sort of dumb contest, Tuffnut trying to decide if there was a way to make mud pies edible, Eret writing in what might have been a journal, and Astrid training. Most of the dragons were already asleep, tired from the journey.

Valka was sitting by Cloudjumper's sleeping form, cleaning her boots, when Hiccup came and sat down next to her. "Hey, Mom."

"Son." She patted his knee, and he covered her hand with his. They gazed at each other, having a rare moment to just sit and bask in each other's presence. Both opened their mouths to speak simultaneously, awkwardly gestured for the other to go first, and chuckled sheepishly and when they realized that neither of them really had anything significant to say.

"I'm really glad you're here, Mom," Hiccup murmured. It wasn't the first time he had expressed the sentiment, and it would not be the last.

She smiled at him, and he leaned against her. She put her arms around him and leaned back against Cloudjumper, and started to stroke her son's hair. Hiccup snuggled lower until he felt almost like a child being held comfortingly by his mother, which, yeah, he was, but it was...really good, to get a glimpse of what he'd missed out on in his childhood. Her fingers playing through his hair felt really, really nice.

After a while, Valka sighed. "You've made Berk into such a lovely place, Hiccup. Seeing it threatened... I'm worried."

"Yeah, me too."

Valka patted his shoulder. "That Light Fury was a beauty."

"Yeah, I'm just really hoping she's not gone for good. And that she didn't tear her stitches too early, and that she's eating enough..."

"You told Gobber to leave fish for her every day, and Toothless spent a lot of time with her before we left. I'm sure she's fine."

"Do you think they'll mate?"

"Perhaps, or perhaps not. It's too early to say at this point."

"I bet Fury babies would be really cute."

Valka smiled. "I'm certain of it."

Astrid strode toward them and collapsed next to Hiccup, who'd just started to scramble upright in alarm when his wife thudded half on top of him. He lay squished uncertainly between the two women. "Uuummm..."

"Are we cuddling? I want in," Astrid mumbled, nuzzling into her husband's chest.

Hiccup smiled and relaxed, seeing that he wasn't going to be made fun of for being caught getting cradled by his mommy like he was four years old.

"I doubt a mother is welcome in the caresses between a husband and wife," Valka commented, grinning a little as she stood.

"Oh, no, Mom, it's okay...!"

Valka flapped a hand at them, still smiling, and walked away.

Hiccup and Astrid exchanged a glance, then slipped off to a more private corner of the island for a little while. They took a dip in the ocean afterward and then came back to camp holding hands, and when they curled up between their dragons to sleep, Stormfly roused enough to sniff closely at them for a while before closing her eyes again.

o.o.o

[A scene where they find Squirt (the dark Bewilderbeast from HTTYD2) and add him to their party. Very much like my fic A Small Addition to Berk's Flock (which can be found in my "The Dragon Queen of Berk" story collection), but adjusted to fit the circumstances.]

o.o.o

Toothless had been restless and distracted for two days now, and Hiccup, following his dragon away from camp one early morning, finally found out why.

The Light Fury had been following them at a distance. Now, reasonably far away from the humans she still distrusted, she circled the Night Fury with wary curiosity, sniffing at his tail.

"My good tail that Half Of Me made me~" Toothless preened. Hiccup made a mental note to see if his dragon would have more interest in an auto-tail now that circumstances had changed.

The dragons circled each other for a minute, then the Light Fury turned and started to trot away in that coy manner many female species had during courting season. Though clearly capable of genuinely fleeing if she hadn't been interested, she kept her pace light, expecting to be pursued and eventually caught once she judged her suitor worthy.

Toothless kept pace, uncertain but eager. The Light Fury finally stopped at the sandy edge of a lake.

[*The courtship scene, but more realistic and less over-the-top.*]

At long last, the Light Fury turned away and paced to the edge of the water, leaped lightly onto the rocks, and took off. Toothless hurried after her, but paused, looking back at his tail unhappily. The female circled and called to him; he called back and jumped, flapping his wings, but then fell back to the rocks and stared at her pitifully. She landed on the sand stared at him for a minute, then cooed sadly and flew away again, this time over the trees.

Toothless sat down and stared at the water. He was very still, wings and head plates drooping. Hiccup felt his heart twist and he stole away back to camp, already flipping through images in his mind, trying to remember those years-old designs he'd drawn for his best friend's very first Snoggletog present.

o.o.o

When Toothless saw Hiccup approaching with the new tail, he bounded up eagerly, curious about whatever new contraption his human had come up with this time. Some of Hiccup's inventions were duds, others were dangerous and Toothless had angrily destroyed them after certain mishaps, but a lot of the inventions often made things easier and/or more fun, so the Night Fury was always up for trying out new things.

"Soooo, what do you think, bud?" Hiccup asked, presenting his handiwork.

Toothless sniffed and inspected it, then looked up at Hiccup and warbled curiously.

"Turn around, buddy, let me try it on," Hiccup said, gesturing.

Toothless obligingly whisked around, and Hiccup had to duck the wings and tail. Then he knelt in the grass and replaced his dragon's prosthetic.

As soon as Toothless sensed him rise, he brought the end of his tail around to inspect again, and his eyes widened when he saw the new fin opening and closing in tandem with the flesh one. The Night Fury narrowed his eyes and looked harder, sniffing.

"I know you didn't like the first one, and really, bud, I treasured that," Hiccup murmured. "But things are different now, and...well, what do you think?"

Toothless sat down and gazed off into the distance for a while, seemingly at a loss. After a long pause, he finally got up and wandered away.

The Night Fury moved through the camp and then the woods for a long time, looking lost in thought. Hiccup apprehensively followed, and when Toothless finally noticed, he turned back and stuck his face into Hiccup's stomach. Hiccup caressed him, and they were still for a while, exchanging wordless love and uncertainly.

Toothless finally sat back and gazed into Hiccup's eyes, making a soft croaking sound.

"It's okay, buddy," Hiccup murmured, fingers playing across his friend's jaw plates. "I'll be right here when you're ready to come back, okay?"

Toothless looked back and raised his tail, spreading the fins and staring at them for a while. Then he grunted and stood up, jogged a few steps and took off, circling in the sky a few times. Then he flew away, and Hiccup felt his heart twinge as he watched.

[Furies fly together; I don't care except for:]

When she first emerged from the clouds, watching him, Toothless perked up and called to her. She narrowed her eyes and shifted to his other side, then fell back slightly to look at his tail.

"Fixed," he explained.

She could smell the hint of metal and leather hidden under the thick scents of nightwing scales and saliva, and she bared her teeth in anger and fear. "Humans."

"Good humans! There are bad humans and good humans. My humans are GOOD. Saved me, loved me."

They flew for a while, the snow-wing pondering this, memories of torment at human hands clashing with the human yet pleasant scents liberally spread all over the nightwing. She finally dropped back to inspect the prosthetic again.

"Not-real? Flying?" she wondered.

"Fin torn, I am grounded; Half Of Me gives me not-fin, fin and not-fin work together, I fly."

She cocked her plates and then started to put him through his paces, testing the authenticity of his flight. He was clumsier than a nightwing ought to be, but he was still fast, and determined and passionate as well.

And interesting. He did things she had never seen a dragon do, zooming up to great height and then letting himself fall, anticipating rather than afraid. At his encouragement, she finally worked up the courage to try it herself, and...then she could see it, a little, why it would be fun to pretend to fall.

She chuckled at him and called him the dragon equivalent of a weirdo, but he had piqued her interest. He was pleased, and inspired to show off even more.

[She's eventually convinced that any human Toothless trusts enough to be his other half, who would restore his flight and live in peace with his flock and even help the Light Fury herself, can't be a threat, so she feels safe enough to show him the Hidden World.]

o.o.o

Valka flew in to camp, breathless and horrified, to report that a fleet of what were probably about a hundred ships was heading toward Berk, filled with empty dragon-sized cages.

They raced back home and Hiccup ordered Valka, Gobber, and Spitelout to fortify the village and wrangle the new dragons, who wouldn't know the circumstances or routine in the worst-case scenario of enemies making it all the way to Berk's shores. In the meantime, Hiccup, flying a Monstrous Nightmare incongruously named Butterfly, would lead a large group of seasoned dragon riders to meet the fleet and see if they could prevent it from reaching Berk at all.

They timed it so they'd be approaching after sundown, and kept far apart since enemy lookouts would be less likely to notice scattered wings flapping among the stars than they would a large condensed clump of them.

Hiccup, flanked by Astrid and Eret, descended first, landing on the deck of the flagship as the rest of his forces stayed concealed in the night sky. He always felt obligated to give enemies a chance to be persuaded away from violence. "Hiccup Horrendous Haddock, chief of Berk, requesting audience with your commander," he announced, watching the warriors scrambling back and yelling for their companions. When a few made a diffident move to attack, Stormfly screeched in warning and lashed her tail, sending a line of spikes thudding into the deck.

A man soon came tromping down the stairs, striking Hiccup as strangely familiar even though he was sure he'd never seen the man in his life before. Behind him and to his left, Eret made a weird squeaking sound.

"Chief of Berk, eh?" the commander rumbled. He was not particularly tall, but his chiseled mass and the utterly confident way he carried himself made up for it. He wore a fur cloak and was adorned with distinctive tattoos, and Hiccup resisted the urge to facepalm when he belatedly realized that the man seemed so familiar because he looked remarkably like Eret. "Come to surrender?"

"No, but we're willing to negotiate a truce."

The commander's eyes moved to the man who was now all but hiding behind Hiccup's thin frame. "What's this, Eret? I send you out to redeem you honor, and you go pledging your cowardly hand to some upstart, dragon-loving barbarian."

Eret stepped out from behind Hiccup with exaggerated grace, a brightly fake smile, and frantic eyes. "Hi, Dad. Actually, this is all part of my plan, see, to, ah...to trick the barbarian chief and get him right where I want him."

Hiccup and Astrid were staring at him, Hiccup in disbelief that he was actually going to attempt such a thin ploy, Astrid in outrage. She hoisted her axe and took a step, pausing only when Hiccup gestured for her to stand down.

"See, I," Eret went on, sweating as he realized that no one was calling him out, "I gained the boy's trust, and now, er, all I have to do is...is rise up, like so, and-" Taking Hiccup's forearm, he pulled the younger man closer and pushed his arm up behind his back. When Hiccup made no move to resist, Eret awkwardly plucked Inferno from its sheath at Hiccup's thigh. He dared a quick glance at his 'captive' and then, seeing Hiccup's unimpressed, exasperated expression that was devoid of either intimidation or dismay, refused to look at him again. Astrid and the dragons were tense and restless, obviously displeased with the treatment of their leader, but they were following Hiccup's unbothered lead for now.

"-and- and there we go! The Dragon Conqueror, completely at my mercy, and ah...now we have...control of all the dragons."

Hiccup sighed deeply.

Eret Sr. did not look at all impressed. "Fine. Then lock 'em up in the brig, cage the dragons, and bring me the Night Fury."

"Er-" Eret shot a desperate look at Hiccup, who raised an eyebrow. "Sure, Dad. Come on, you...prisoner, you..." He pushed his captive across the deck; Hiccup resisted only so he could sign, "Calm, trust me, FLY AWAY," at the dragons.

"I hope you know what you're doing," Astrid mouthed angrily at her husband as a couple more warriors shoved her toward the brig as well. The dragons took off into the sky as she spoke, prompting a flurry of activity from the warriors, whose swung weapons and fired arrows all missed before the animals vanished into the dark.

In the brig, Eret Sr. came to [give a villainous speech to Hiccup about how bad dragons are and that men will never stop trying to exterminate them or whatever, except in a way that's interesting and flows rather than DeBlois's usual clunky, fumbling exposition-vomiting. Thrown in is some stuff about Eret being a loser and Hiccup quietly defending him].

[Eret comes in eventually to help them escape. I wrote the following segment at work when I didn't have access to the rest of the story:]

"What was that, Eret?" Hiccup demanded.

"I panicked!" Eret said defensively. "It's just... His Disappointed Face, I started flashbacking- Do you know how awful it is when you grow up with a father who hates you?"

"I'm not entirely unfamiliar with the concept," Hiccup said dryly. He knew that his father loved him, he had plenty of good childhood memories, and Stoick had grown a lot easier to live with after the Dragon War ended. That didn't erase all those years in between, though, when Hiccup had gotten old enough to start causing trouble and demonstrating that he wasn't going to be the exemplary Viking son his father had hoped.

[Blah; Eret eventually gets over how his father treated him as a kid and becomes more self-confident.

Oh, wait, I'd gotten all the way to the Hidden World, hadn't I. X''D]

[GAH, I don't want to write this; why are you making me clean up your mess, Dean DeBlois! *SIGH* Eret sneaks in to free Hiccup & Astrid, there's a battle and the Hooligans win, though it's not easy. Eret Sr.'s drifting on debris in the ocean; after the dragon riders leave, he's pulled into a rowboat by some of the survivors and glares balefully after Hiccup & Eret.]

[Hiccup anxiously checks over all the defenses, they're fine but he can't shake his anxiety, so Astrid finally takes him out to look for Toothless, and Stormfly brings them to the Hidden World. The glowy colors and whatever are the same as the movie.]

Hiccup urgently nudged the Nadder to land when he caught a glimpse of black among all the bright, flashing colors. Stormfly set down on a rocky ledge and, once the humans had dismounted, wandered off to greet some other dragons.

Hiccup's eyes were fixed on his partner, who looked happy and carefree cavorting at the side of his female companion. The two of them swooped and dove with the flock, until all the dragons started calling. The ones who were airborne landed, everyone orienting themselves toward one of the openings that led deeper into the cave system.

The dragon that soon came soaring into view was magnificent, the biggest Light Fury yet. It came to a landing atop a pillar of rock and raised its head to roar. The dragons below cried back in obeisance, some shooting plumes of flame.

Toothless's Light Fury flew up to the queen's perch and submissively rubbed herself against the larger dragon's forelegs and chest. Toothless, sheepishly following, landed a little lower, where he crouched in an awkward huddle. The Light Fury queen lowered her head to sniff at him, snorting when she reached the prosthetic.

At that, Toothless lit up and danced a bit, croaking and chirring and enthusiastically waving his tail. The queen narrowed her eyes, then planted a paw on his back, forcing him to the ground, and sniffed him over more thoroughly. Toothless wriggled a little but was mostly cooperative.

At long last, the Light Fury queen removed her paw, licked the top of Toothless's head, then turned away to greet a cluster of dragons that had fluttered up and were trying to get her attention.

Toothless gamboled with his own Light Fury in excitement, then the two of them started to wander off, affectionately nosing and licking at each other.

That was when the human invaders were discovered.

Hiccup was startled when he felt the ground shake slightly behind him, and turned to find an angry dragon looming.

[BLARGH, I hate writing this. Same as in the movie, except instead of Toothless ordering dragons away from his human flockmates, he does it more on an even footing, maybe pointing out their flockmate smells. Kind of like in my fic He's Not Dangerous. And the Light Fury doesn't stand there helplessly dithering on the ledge like she does in the movie, she just flattens her plates in displeasure and follows after more at leisure. Tooth also doesn't really give a second thought to leaving the Hidden World because he'd always been planning to return to Berk after his visit.]

[This would be the Eret resolution subplot.]

[Time passes. This is where some of my post-HTTYD2 fanfics would go. Squirt's rehabilitation; Light Fury's hanging out at Berk, too, or at least splits her time between Berk and the Hidden World. She needs a name; I guess I'll call her Snowstrike. Occasional battles to defend Berk from dragon haters. Should I do my old idea of Hiccup bringing together a coalition of allies? Viking tribes from the TV show and the books. Possibly Snotlout and the others start families? Quite possibly Fury babies.]

The dragons had been acting weird for a few days. Stormfly had been extremely reluctant to fly with Astrid, only agreeing after lengthy persuasion, and she and Toothless were both tiptoeing around the chiefess and treating her like she was made of glass. Stormfly kept bringing in fish and small dead animals to drop at Astrid's feet as if she expected her human to eat them. Hiccup should honestly have guessed sooner, but it wasn't until Astrid, walking home with him hand-in-hand after supper at the Great Hall, turned to him and said, "So, I'm like three months late" that he finally figured it out.

Actually, not even then. "Late for what?" he asked.

"You know," she said, her tone indicating that he definitely ought to know what she was talking about. "My monthly flow? My lady blossoms? My crimson tide? My-"

"Okay okay okay, I get it!" He puzzled over it for a minute. "Late as in-?"

"As in I haven't had one. In three months."

"Oh." His eyes widened, and he came to a dead stop. "OH." Toothless, who'd been cavorting around somewhere in the shadows, came up and looked at Hiccup in concern.

Astrid eyed her husband, craning to see his face. "So, what, is this bad news?"

"Uh- No! No, no, I'm- Wow!" A hysterical laugh burst out of him, and he was grinning like a fool at his wife as his insides surged with shock and terror and elation. "I- I'm gonna be a dad?! Oh, crap, I'm gonna be- No, no no, you're gonna be a mom. Yeah, I like that better; Astrid, you're gonna be a mom~!" He wrapped his arms around her and nuzzled into her neck as she laughed, Toothless and Stormfly milling curiously around them.

"How about this, Dragon Boy; we are going to have something new to train other than dragons."

"Wow. Training babies; you think they have a book on that?" Laughing and excited, they ran for home, their dragons eagerly galloping alongside.

[Birth of [Zeph].]

[When [Zeph]'s...2-4 years old (has Stoick II been born yet?), montage of attacks (unless the entire years long period was a montage?).]

That night, the patrols reported yet another approaching enemy fleet. Hiccup kissed his sleeping daughter's forehead, left Astrid in charge, and wearily flew out to investigate.

He and Toothless perched atop a cliff, observing. The dragon was growling, his wings raised and his body tensed as if to pounce, but when he looked over and noticed Hiccup's unmatching mood, he paused. Toothless croaked inquiringly, then, receiving no answer, sat down and folded his wings, waiting, his gaze moving back and forth between the fleet and the chieftain.

Hiccup was slumped, tired. "It's never going to end, is it," he finally murmured. "They just keep coming...and coming...and coming... Because their one goal in life is to kill you all."

Toothless croaked again, concerned at the depression he could sense in his dearest companion.

"Toothless..." Hiccup leaned his forehead against his friend's. Toothless licked at his cheek, then stood up and started licking more forcefully. Hiccup grunted and was knocked backward to the ground, but there was none of the usual laughing protests. Toothless gave up licking, trilled in distress, and then lay on him.

Hiccup idly stroked his fingers over the smooth black scales. "I want to say I don't know what to do. But...I do. I just don't want to. I don't..." He sighed deeply and hid his face against the Night Fury's hide. Toothless crooned and nuzzled him. They were still for several long moments, then Hiccup exhaled and started shoving at the dragon. "All right, I'm done; game face on."

Toothless scrambled to his feet in relief, barked enthusiastically when Hiccup put on his helmet and snapped down the visor, then the chief was mounted and they were airborne in the next second, flying off to protect their home.

[They win the battle, but Hiccup announces to the tribe that they need a drastic plan in order to stop the attacks for good. The plan is not yet revealed to the audience, and there's a montage of preparation.]

[*siiiigh* I really don't want to write the Final Battle. Enemies attack; the children, including [Zeph], are herded to Gothi or someone for safety; the adults head to battle. Fighting; when it's gone on long enough to not rouse suspicion, Toothless pretends to be shot out of the sky, Hiccup crying out in fake-but-actually-kind-of-genuine grief as he glides to safety. Either Hiccup or Toothless signals Squirt, who rises up in an apparent rage to attack, but he's "killed" as well, maybe by a fake weapon shot by hidden Hooligans. Squirt swims underwater to join Hiccup, and uses his Bewilderbeast voice to call the rest of the dragon flock at a pitch humans can't hear well. Dragons stream away into the distant sky as Hooligans watch, not having to pretend much that they're devastated. Enemies roar in triumph and renew the attack, thinking that since they're already at it, they might as well pillage and plunder, but Hiccup leads the Hooligans to victory and they are driven off.]

That night, Hiccup and his core group sailed to a small, low-lying island. As soon as they set foot on shore, dragons came bounding out of the foliage toward them, Toothless in the lead. Snowstrike came at a more sedate pace, her hatchlings romping at her feet.

Snotlout and the others said their goodbyes within an hour and eventually left again; their dragons flew away into the darkness. Hiccup and Valka lingered, walking or quietly curled up with their soulmates, communing grief and pain and remembered joys. Astrid, Stormfly, and Snowstrike got the children settled, resting by a fire as they kept watch over the pile of sleeping little ones.

"I don't want you to go," Hiccup whispered as dawn approached. Toothless croaked brokenly and pressed his face against Hiccup's. "I love you, bud. I love you so much." Hiccup took a deep breath and pulled away. "But...I know you'll never be safe in my world. You...you have to go." He smiled, tears starting to slip down his face. "Thank you, Toothless. For everything."

There was a pause as Toothless stared at him with deep, glistening eyes. Then the dragon reared up on his hind legs, wrapping his forelegs around Hiccup and clinging as well as he could in the awkward position. Hiccup laughed through his tears and tightly returned the hug, deeply touched that his best friend had chosen to express his affection in Hiccup's own 'language.'

"Hiccup," Astrid called after a moment, "the sun's rising in an hour. It won't be great for anyone sailing by to happen to see where the dragons are headed."

Hiccup took a shaky breath. "Okay...well, you heard the lady, bud. So...g-get out of here. Go on, okay? Go on. ...Goodbye, buddy."

It took a minute more for Toothless to finally take off, his mate and his children in his wake, but once they were in the air, he flew strong. He roared, and there was a chorus of answering cries in the distance. The stars were briefly obscured as thousands of wings passed over them, and then the dragons of Berk were gone for good.

Hiccup looked back at his wife and managed a shaky smile. [Zeph], roused from her sleep, yawned and rubbed at her eyes. "What happened, Daddy?"

"We'll talk about it later," Hiccup murmured, picking her up. He put an arm around Astrid and held them close for a long moment. Then he pulled back and managed a smile. "Let's go home."

Epilogue

[Originally, I was going to write two endings for this fic, one of them a better version of the movie's epilogue, and the other an adaptation of the epilogue I'd been visualizing ever since I heard, years ago, that Dean DeBlois was planning to separate Hiccup & Toothless. Now that I'm actually here, it's a waste of time to re-write that super-crappy movie epilogue, so this is my own version of how I wish the story ended if separating Hiccup & Toothless was a requirement.

This is meant to be playing during the end credits, with the words scrolling up over the video.]

It's about a year after the dragons left; Chief Hiccup is going about his business, at one point ambushed by his youngest child and a gaggle of village children. Laughing, he plays with them for a minute, but then something draws everyone's attention to the sky.

Hiccup's eyes widen; the children scream and scatter. Snowstrike comes to a hard landing and jumps urgently at Hiccup, trying to nudge him onto her back. He appears to be trying to figure out what's wrong, but then realization dawns on his face. Making "Wait just a minute, I'll be right there!" gestures at Snowstrike, he rushes to his forge and starts shoving equipment into a bag. When he comes racing out of the forge, he's brought up short by Astrid, who's smiling a little as she holds out a bag of additional supplies (food and stuff). He grins back, sheepish, grateful, and apologetic, and kisses her briefly. He shouts/waves goodbye to all the bemused bystanders, swiftly hugs his confused children goodbye, and swings himself on Snowstrike's back; she wastes no time in taking off.

When they come to a landing in the Hidden World, Toothless comes joyfully galloping out to attack Hiccup with licks and nuzzles, bowling Hiccup over. Hiccup, laughing and obviously mouthing things like "Good to see you, too, bud," finally manages to calm Toothless down a bit, and the Night Fury urgently brandishes his tail, which sports a damaged, useless, and probably uncomfortable prosthetic. Hiccup speaks with a reassuring expression and quickly gets set up.

One short time skip later, Hiccup's attaching a new prosthetic to Toothless, who's so eager to fly again that he can barely sit still. Many other dragons are watching, including a couple of Toothless's half-grown children.

As soon as the last bit is in place, Toothless explodes into a joyful circle around Hiccup and then scoops the man onto his back. The two fly together for a while, flanked by other dragons, but the others eventually fall away.

Toothless flies Hiccup to Berk, drops him off some time at night, there's a farewell scene, then Toothless flies away.

Montage of years passing; Hiccup and his family visit Toothless, Toothless and occasionally some others like Stormfly and Meatlug visit the Vikings under cover of night. Children grow and become parents themselves; Hiccup and Toothless get older and less energetic, though no less loving.

At one point, Hiccup bittersweetly shoots the arrow to light his wife's funeral ship on fire; she had a full life and died with honor. At another unspecified point, dragons are bringing rocks to bury Snowstrike; Toothless sets the last one to completely cover her face and sits in silent mourning. One of his small grandchildren rubs her side against his, and he leans down his head to nuzzle her.

Hiccup retires; his eldest daughter is crowned chief. In the Hidden World, an older and much wiser and benevolent Squirt is hailed as alpha. Toothless watches from a distance, then pads away.

On Berk, an elderly Hiccup is packing a ship, small enough to be sailed without any additional crew. His large family help; when they're finished, his grown children bid him a bittersweet goodbye. He hugs his grandchildren one last time, kisses his great-grandbaby where they lie in their mother's arms, then Hiccup sets sail from Berk on his final voyage, never to return.

Toothless lies on a clifftop, gazing out to sea as if waiting.

Hiccup navigates by the stars and perhaps a compass of his own invention, his face and posture indicating a lightness and freedom he hasn't felt since he was a very young man, before assuming the heavy chieftain's mantle.

The boat comes to shore; Hiccup steps out. Toothless walks slowly to meet him. No cavorting this time; the two old friends greet each other quietly, patting and nuzzling. Hiccup, his hands shaking slightly with age, works to replace Toothless's worn prosthetic with a new one. Then, without even seeming to confer about it, Toothless shifts in readiness and Hiccup laboriously hoists himself onto the dragon's bare back; Toothless just as laboriously takes flight.

No trick-flying this time, no racing or falling. Hiccup and Toothless glide quietly and serenely through the night, two-who-are-one as they were from the beginning. They pass across the moon and then disappear into the night.

The End

Author's notes: A note about animal courtship: I have observed both deer and cats doing the coy "Catch me if you can~" thing, but I feel the need to point out that this DOES NOT translate into human behavior. No means no, period; end of story; abort mission. Better to be wrong and lose a potential target than to misread a situation and victimize someone. And recipients, do not intentionally give mixed signals. People who say no but mean yes contribute to making life difficult and dangerous for people who say no and really do mean no. Safety should always take priority over gratification.