"I'll be back for you. I promise."
Hiccup is in pain; Hiccup shouldn't be in pain. Hiccup's been so happy lately. Happier than ever, he tells him. He's started to stand to his full height. Astrid mentioned that recently. "Have you grown?"
"Not since I was about twelve," Hiccup answered, wry as always.
"I always thought you were shorter than you actually are."
She didn't hear his answer; no one did except the dragon. "I hunched."
Why do you have to go? I'll go too. Right now. Spare you the trip on that thing. Put back on the saddle.
"No, bud! You've gotta stay here and take care of the other dragons."
Who will take care of you, then?
"It's going to be okay, Toothless. Trust me."
I do trust you. I just don't want you to go.
Hiccup holds out his hand and he brings his nose to it, like the first time Hiccup dared to reach for him and Toothless dared to touch him. Hiccup drops to the ground and pulls Toothless to him, wrapping his thin arms around him like a teddy bear. He strokes his cheek for a second and stands. He lays down the saddle, tenderly, like he's leaving a piece of himself behind. He shares one last look at Toothless. They feel identical, pulsing grief as he starts towards the ship. Toothless watches him go, until his boy is a blur, until the boat is a dot miles off.
He will come back. Toothless will wait until then.
This is was shorter than it looked when I was writing it...anyway, I was watching "In Dragons We Trust" and about started crying here. It helped I had already seen the next episode. For once, there *shouldn't* be grammar mistakes or anything, because I actually edited this one. The first draft was quite rough. Review! Expect me to write many series-centric oneshots!
