Author's Note – I read somewhere that the film directors envisioned Toothless completely forgetting his old life after enough time passed. He learned how to fly on his own and he let go of the past. This embracing of his new role and his wilder, more instinctive, and protective side felt like something that deserved a proper portrayal and celebration to show just how far he has come in his new life. The thumbnail is modified from Wikimedia Commons – Fog Ocean Sunset.
Alpha flew alone through the mist.
This was one of his great flights now. It was too dangerous to allow the other dragons up outside the waterfall to go fishing or flying for fun. They might be seen by the humans that live in the above.
That would be very bad. Humans could not be allowed to find the hidden world. If they did, they would trap dragons. They would trap his mate and his little ones.
A growl escaped his jaws at the thought of his mate or little ones being trapped. She hated traps. His little ones, still too small to stretch their wings truly in the open skies, stayed down below with their dam where it was safe for them. They did not yet know the danger of the above.
He was a watcher now. A guardian in the mist. A protector of...
Then his ears tingled as distant calls and voices reached him through the mist. Those hated noises could only be one thing. It was not often that... they... came into the mist.
The humans.
The trappers.
The other group.
They were why the world above was not safe for dragons. They were why he had led all his kind into hiding.
The others were a threat to all he protects. Only one purpose would bring the trappers into these waters.
He angled his flight through the mist and towards the sound, settling into a glide that carried him above the boat. A fleeting glance down onto the boat was all he needed to see.
Many big humans were walking on the boat while holding onto nets and other weapons. There were also a pawful of empty cages on the boat.
He vaguely remembered many times in the distant past when he flew in the above and found boats carrying other dragons in traps. He and several other dragons had always attacked the boats and freed the other dragons from traps, though how he was a bit unsure of. However it happened, the lesson, boats are bad, was deeply learned.
Here was another trapper boat, clearly searching for the waterfall. It was hard to imagine any trappers finding a way down into the hidden world.
But humans are very clever trappers. They make things with their clever paws, things that dragons could not make.
His claws twitched at the thought of what would happen when humans found the hidden world. While it was probably unlikely, it was still possible. They might find a way down, bring their hunters and trapping things, and...
No!
He protects them all!
Once over the trapper boat, he tucked his wings and went into a dive. The wind began to scream in pain at his passing, a noise that he remembered from so many old attacks on a human nest on a distant island. When he would attack at night with fury at the killing of other dragons, at the killing of those in his group.
The trappers on the boat below never had a chance. His glowing fire struck the boat with such force that several of the trappers were knocked back off the boat and into the freezing cold waters. Several more, targeted shots followed at the pawful of remaining trappers on the boat.
Alpha never misses.
Slowly circling over the burning and motionless boat, he waited for a sign that there were more trappers on the boat.
Silence.
Nothing moving.
It was safe to investigate the boat closer now.
A quick dive and landing on the boat then followed. He snarled in threat as he looked around. The ground creaked under his paws and crackled to his fire. The boat's upright wing was burning. The traps were all empty, the humans having had no chance to trap any dragons.
Eyes narrowed, he crept closer to one of the charred bodies. The male human, very big and with a lot of face-fur, was very dead, its blood spilled around it. All of its fellow trappers on the boat were also dead. None of their weapons or traps or nets had helped them at all.
Good.
He jumped from the burning boat and beat his flight up into the sky only to settle into a steady glide above the fire. The glow was very bright through the mist, and his gaze went nowhere else as long as there was any possibility of threat.
The last of the boat eventually sank beneath the waves.
Snort.
Then he breathed a sigh of relief. The deep feeling of threat and danger began to fade.
The hidden world was still safe and hidden. The humans, the trappers would not find it.
He turned back through the deepest of the mist and then emerged over the roaring, rushing hole in the ocean.
Alpha tucked his wings, flew down through the great waterfall, and emerged with a roar into the world that was his to protect.
Alpha flew alone through the mist. Soaring freely, flying on his own. Actually, not truly on his own. There were four others flying with him now.
A glance over his tailfins followed, and he purred at what he saw there.
His mate, her white, sparkling wings flashing with every beat, was flying with their three offspring. Their black and white spots of color twisted and turned as they played in the mist and up above the mist. She was teaching them things about flight that could only be learned in the winds and the open sky.
The three offspring were also playing for fun. Tagging tails, nipping at ears, and growling at each other as nestmates do to learn.
It was very warming to see, and it never failed to make him purr.
Then his mate saw him watching their flight. She darted over to him and spun around him, gently stroking his side with her tailfins.
She was very sly.
He liked that about her, so he started playing with her.
Spins and gentle nudges. A lick on the cheek. She sputtered at that and wiped her cheek with a paw.
Then their little ones started getting a bit far away from them. That was not good. She barked in alarm and darted over toward them. That was better.
That let him return for a time to his mission. His true reason for flying in the above.
He was a watchful guardian, protecting all the dragons in hiding.
How long had it been that he and all other dragons had been in hiding? That was unclear, almost like the mist itself, but it had been many turns of the seasons.
Many seasons since...
A distant flash of motion out in the mist caught his attention. There was something out there.
His flight turned toward it until he could clearly see it down below.
A human boat. Trappers.
How many of them had there been through the seasons' turns? How many trappers had tried to find the hidden world? Many. Enough that he did not allow other dragons into the above. The danger to them was too great. His own nest was an exception as long as he and his mate were there to protect and watch over them.
Many trappers had entered the mist.
None that he knew of had left.
For some odd reason, it had pained him at first to kill them and to do what was necessary to protect all dragons. There had been a whisper of curiosity deep within. A twisted thought that maybe he did not need to kill them. Maybe everything he knew about them... was wrong.
However, several boats had been filled with trappers who had tried to trap him the moment he approached the boat. They had shot their arrows and nets at him. One of the boats had even caught a dragon in a net. Seeing a dragon, one he was Alpha of, caught by trappers and held on a boat had helped him to move on and let go of that old reluctance. Seeing that badness helped him to embrace his true potential as Alpha.
But as he floated over this trapper boat, he noticed something different about it. A wary grumble followed as he looked down on the boat.
This boat was smaller and had far fewer trappers on it. It was also hiding all of its traps, nets, and weapons.
Was it different? Maybe these humans are not trappers. Maybe he should go down to the boat and meet the humans... the trappers...
He growled at himself and at the twisted thought. These were very clever trappers. They had learned what other trappers had not learned. Do not immediately show teeth and claws if one is getting ready to fight. It is better to take the enemy by surprise.
No dragon is better at surprise attack than him.
He tucked his wings and dove, the wind itself screaming in pain as he readied his fire. His gaze narrowed on the shapes of the trappers. It was again surprising how few there were, not that it mattered though.
There were no reasons why trappers would enter the mist except to find the hidden world or to trap dragons.
The trapper Alpha noticed him and looked up at him. Its false hide draped behind it flowed gently in the wind. The trapper was too far away for him to see anything else about its appearance though.
He expected the trapper to raise a weapon in its defense, but it did not. It only stood there, as if accepting of its fate.
Why did it come here? It had to know what would happen if it entered the mist and sought the hidden world.
Or maybe it was different.
He halted his dive and cautiously spun around the boat.
Take a risk and trust a human to not be a trapper?
Why such reluctance to act?
The human Alpha kept pointing a paw up at him.
The slow dance of possibility.
A choice.
A clever paw reaching out to control him long ago.
He blinked and remembered the truth in that moment.
Humans are not his group.
Trusting them is not safe.
Dragons are his group.
His glowing shot struck the middle of the boat and tore it asunder. Fires poured out of the belly of the destroyed boat and were quickly quenched by the sea. Pieces of wood fell from the sky into the water.
Then there was no motion on the two parts of the boat. No sign of any trappers.
Satisfied, he winged down toward the front part of the burning boat and touched down on it. It would not be floating for long.
A memory from many turns of the seasons in the past. Himself trapped in ropes or cages and held on a boat. He had escaped somehow.
There was no sign of any of the trappers.
Then he froze as something else came over him. He sniffed the air and smelled something almost known to him. Something else from many seasons' turns in the past.
A tang of metal? The scent of trappers? Weapons, probably.
There was something else on the air also. Something that reached out with clever paws and tried to drag him back into the past...
The boat cracked under his paws as the fires continued to spread. He had little time to stay on the dying boat.
He jumped and ascended into the sky again without a backward glance over his tail. There was nothing back there worth his attention now, the threat having been eliminated.
A cry of alarm echoed from the mist above him as several wings dove from the mist. His mate and three offspring had heard his attack dive and had flown closer to investigate.
His offspring all stared toward the dying flames. Then they flew closer to him, brushing his wings with their own while warbling with curiosity and giving glances down toward the surface waters.
They had never seen humans... they had never seen trappers before. That was good. They were kept safe until now, not knowing the full truth of the world.
But that could not last always. There was a lesson they had to learn if they were to be safe. It had not been the plan to teach them now, but there was no better time to do this.
He roared aloud in command and listen and learn!
His three offspring hovered in place and faced him, looking with wide eyes from him to the fire below.
He growled with danger and fear and threat!
Then he shot another bolt of fire down toward the dead boat. The fire struck the front part of the boat in a bright flash and explosion.
All three of his offspring flinched in alarm and winged closer to their dam. They whined softly and flashed their teeth toward the burning boat. Then they growled softly in their own, somewhat young way.
Satisfied, he purred softly and brushed each of their wings with his own. They settled down again.
The lesson was very clearly learned. Boats are threats. More than that though was another, related lesson.
Trappers... humans are extremely dangerous. Kill on sight.
He would ensure that all his offspring learn the danger of humans, of trappers, so that one day, when they are all grown up, the job of protecting the hidden world can be passed on to them.
They would be silent, hidden guardians and protectors, unseen in the night and light.
Then he huffed in annoyance at himself. He had not planned on spending all of this sun-cycle in guarding and protecting. This was meant to be a cycle of flight with his own nest.
Alpha roared aloud in play and chasing and catching!
With happy, eager roars, his three offspring darted up toward the sky, racing through the mist for the open, clear air. He was about to fly after them when his mate winged over next to him and tapped his shoulder with a wing.
She had an almost sad look in her light blue eyes as she glanced from him to the dead boat. It was something that she had not seen in many turns of the seasons, she having been below with their offspring for much of those seasons. He returned her gaze with an even, certain one of his own. Then he relented and gave her a toothless grin. She always seemed amused by that, and this time was no different as she returned the grin.
Then they purred as one and turned their flights after their offspring. The chase was on. They would let their offspring play much and tire themselves. Up through the mist and out into the warm sunlight.
Free always.
Alpha would ensure that.
Alpha flew alone through the mist.
His eyes attentively watched the waters around the hidden world. He was waiting for the next time when the others come to threaten the hidden world.
He would be there and would be ready.
Guarding and protecting dragons from the others.
Always.
The Alpha protects them all.
Author's Note - In case you are curious, I do not pretend that this ending is a good one. Rather, it is what should necessarily have happened if we consider the film's events prior to the ending scene to be canon and do not try to force an unnaturally saccharine ending.