Ah what the Heck, I wanna make this into a short story. The ending to The Hidden World was beautiful and I was thinking all day today about adapting this into a short story to flesh out the ending a bit more, so here ya go! Hope you enjoy it!
Family Reunion
10 Years Later
Toothless POV
It was a beautiful day in the human world and naturally, I brought Luna and the babies out to enjoy it with me. Of course, I made sure no human ships were in sight before bringing my family out. The warmth of the sun bathing against my scales was a feeling I could never receive in the underground home. The sunlight never reached down to the caverns, only light from the stalagmites opened my vision and fill the caverns with heat, not to mention being stuck down there on Alpha duty can really take a toll on me. But that's for a reason.
I am both King and Protector of the Dragons and every so often, I fly out into the human world to make sure that no human tries to enter my home. I would never kill them, I live by that rule, but would just scare them off with a showing of my razor-sharp teeth and glowing, shocking fins. Luckily, I have not seen a human ship in a long time, so I felt safe to bring my starlight and our pups out. I glance over at them playing together and smile. They are my pride and joy.
Nifa was probably the feistiest of the three. Always wanting to play fight her siblings and loves to tug at my ears and jawline frills. Seeing my color eyes on a mostly white body like Luna's made me realize just how perfect of a match we were. Then there's Solaris, the closest to resembling myself. He mostly stays to himself, coming out to play with his two sisters only when they coax him with food. Hopefully he comes out of his shy shell soon. Finally, there's Bell, the pup with the mostly black scales of mine, similar to Solaris, but with the eyes of her mom. She always wants to play, especially with Luna and she always wanted flying lessons with her and her alone. Sometimes I think Luna loves her more than me, but I'm sure that she loves me equally. I turn around and laid my head against the rock I was sitting on.
'Yup, all is right with the world. Well, as right as it could be.' I think to myself. That's when I hear something. Waves rippling, like a ship passing by. Instead, the waves were not at the same volume level, they were instead getting louder and closer. That's when I see it. A small ship, slowly approaching us. It was all alone, no sounds of other ships around it and no sign of any human weapons. Our children stopped playing and glanced over at the ship with no doubt curiosity filling their minds.
"Stay with the pups." I told my mate. "I'm going to check it out." She nodded, and I launched myself into the air and just as fast as I launched, I landed on the front of the human ship and got a glimpse of its passengers. A man with hair all over his jaw and around his mouth, a woman standing behind him, and two little humans, one a boy, the other a girl.
'Why bring your family here defenseless, human?' I think to myself, my focus maintained on the older man.
"Hey there, bud." He murmured. I kept my stance as is against the head of the ship, my mind however, was racing.
'Bud?' I thought to myself. 'I am no human's "bud". Who are you?' I slowly bring myself to the deck of the ship, my guard still raised. I see the little humans hide their faces behind the woman's fur cloak, obviously scared. I never want to scare human children, but I do what I must to protect my home. I continue to creep towards the older man.
"Remember me?" He asks more clearly. I slowly raise onto my back legs to assert my dominance over him, my mind still plagued with many thoughts.
'Remember you? I have not seen a human in years. Why would I remember you specifically?'
The man then closed his eyes, and raised his hand-paw in the air, pointing at my direction.
"Remember our promise, Toothless. Please." He says.
'Promise? And how do you know my name?' I ask myself. 'What promise did I make with a hu...' Suddenly, after I gave his hand-paw a sniff, I feel something in my mind. Something flooding it.
Memories.
I see a cove on an island I can barely remember, another island filled with the ice spikes created only by a Bewilderbeast, the first island again, this time filled with human homes, and finally an island as high as the clouds. Each one had one human in it. The same one in every memory. The name I could not remember. Then, I remember something more vividly. A cliffside on that sky-high island. The same human and I sharing an embrace, something called a hug if I remember correctly. Then, I hear myself speak.
"Promise me that one day, no matter how long it'd take, that you will come and visit me." I say to that human. Who...are...you?
"I promise you bud. I will see you again." He said back. That's when I remembered. Remembered everything. The acrobatic flying. The tender and loving embraces. The name this human gave me and kept ever since. Most importantly, I remembered the very moment I bonded with this human so many years ago. At that point, I screamed out one word, one name, out of pure, unfiltered happiness.
"HICCUP!"
Normal POV
Hiccup never thought it would end up like this. He promised his children, Zephyr and Nuffink, that he would take them and their mother to see Hiccup's old friend, Toothless, the dragon Hiccup would always talk about with them whenever they wanted to hear a story about the dragons when they used to live on Berk. He was expecting a warm welcome from the Night Fury, but instead, he was meet with a Toothless that reverted back to his natural instincts. And there is nothing more dangerous, then a grown Night Fury. Especially one that Hiccup knows well and knows what damage he could inflict. After trying twice to coax the Night Fury to remember, Hiccup tried something different. He did what he did many years ago when he first met the Night Fury. He closed his eyes and raised his hand towards Toothless, hoping to the gods that he remembers his best human friend.
"Remember our promise Toothless, please." Hiccup pleads with the dragon. Despite being apart from dragons for a decade, Hiccup was still a master at Dragon Tongue, and he still remembers Toothless practically begging him to meet once again. Hiccup thought now would be the perfect time and so far, it's turned into the opposite. He kept his hand up and eyes closed in hope, and there were a few seconds of silence before a voice like his, only deeper, screamed in absolute joy…
"HICCUP!" Toothless screeched as he tackled Hiccup to the deck of the ship, tongue wagging out of his mouth in pure happiness. He was jumping around the ship, speaking so fast Hiccup couldn't keep up with him.
"Icantbeleiveyouarehere!It'sbeensolongsinceIsawyou!Imissedyousososomuch!" Toothless rambled on and on as he stopped his running around and knocked Hiccup back to the deck of the ship and licked him over and over on a spot of his face where there was no facial hair.
"Don't worry." Astrid said to her son and daughter. "He's not going to eat your father. See, they're friends." The two human children peaked and saw that their daddy was not getting eaten, but rather laughing at the affection the dragon was giving him.
"I am glad to see you too, bud!" Hiccup said, who was also happy to see his best friend again. "How's the tail holding up? Could use some oiling and some fine tuning."
"Forget about the tail! I'm just happy to see…" Toothless then trailed off and stopped licking Hiccup, as he was recalling another memory on that cliffside where he said goodbye.
"You will always have something to remember me." Hiccup said. "All you have to do is turn around and look at your tailfin."
At that point, Toothless' heart fell. He could not believe it. He forgotten about his best friend. His other half. His human brother. At that, he whined sadly.
"Hey, what's wrong Toothless?" Hiccup asked, leaning up and face the Night Fury eye to eye. He took a quick glance over at Astrid with Zephyr and Nuffink, who stopped hiding their faces into their mom's fur coat and looked at the dragon aboard the ship.
"I'm so sorry that I forgot you Hiccup." Toothless apologized. "All the time I spent in my home made me forget you. Can you please forgive me?"
Hiccup sighed and embraced Toothless' head, the dragon pressing it against the human's chest.
"Of course, I forgive you bud. You just needed to remember is all." Hiccup responded with a soft tone.
"Thank you Hiccup." Toothless said, eyes closed and welcoming the embrace. Soon, they broke it and Toothless glanced curiously at Hiccup's children.
"Now I assume these are your pups?" Toothless asks, which Hiccup nodded. He then waved Zephyr and Nuffink over, both children with scared looks on their faces.
"It's ok." Astrid said softly to them as they slowly, but surly, made their way towards Toothless. They both still wore scared looks on their faces and soon, they were up close with the Night Fury. Hiccup stood to the side, calm and collected.
"Now, give me your hands." Hiccup said, softly taking Zephyr's hand first, raising it upwards, shortly doing the same with Nuffink. "That's it. Let him come to you."
Toothless looked at both hands curiously for a few seconds, glancing at the children's faces too. Then, just liked he did with Hiccup all those years ago, he closed his eyes and pressed his snout against their hands, purring while doing so.
"Hiccup." Toothless said. "I can sense their souls. They are as pure and innocent as my own children. I really like them."
Hiccup grinned at that, and also seeing Zephyr and Nuffink's faces light up at the sight of them touching his Night Fury friend. Soon, they began to rub and pet the Night Fury's head.
"Hello, Toothless." Nuffink said softly. "Daddy told us a lot about you." Toothless let out a small chuckle.
"Tell them that I said I bet you have." Toothless told Hiccup. The man nodded.
"He said that he bets that you have." Hiccup translated. To which both children giggled as well. Soon, Luna showed up next to the ship, with the 3 Night Light babies flying around her. The four humans looked on in amazement.
"Toothless is a dad." Astrid whispered. Hiccup nodding speechless while the kids stared up at Luna and her babies in awe.
"They are so cute!" Nuffink and Zephyr say in unison. Toothless, Hiccup, and Astrid laughed while Luna warbled in confusion.
"What did I miss?" She asks.
Toothless chuckled. "Quite a bit, my starlight." Hiccup and Astrid smiled at the nickname Toothless gave the Light Fury.
"Ok…" Luna stretched on. "The pups are getting restless and they want to fly. Care to join us?" She then glanced over at the human family. "And yes, you can bring the human family with us."
Toothless smiled his toothless grin that he has not flashed in so long and leaned downward to help Hiccup climb on, the man carrying his son too.
"Ready to experience flying, my son?" Hiccup asked.
"Yes daddy! I'm so excited!" Nuffink replied, jumping up and down in excitement on Hiccup's lap.
"Oh, Astrid." Toothless said. "I almost forgot something." Before Hiccup could translate, he roared loudly, forcing Hiccup's family to cover their ears. Soon, they heard an all too familiar squawk. Suddenly, out of the entrance to The Hidden World, came a blue and orange Deadly Nadder that Astrid immediately recognized.
"STORMFLY!" Astrid shouted in joy. Stormfly noticed her old human rider immediately and landed on the boat gently, and repeatedly nuzzled and wrapped around her human friend.
"I'm so happy to see you too girl!" Astrid said, petting and caressing Stormfly's head.
"She missed you a lot Astrid. She would always follow me whenever I came out of the waterfall in hopes that you would return. Guess today was her lucky day." Toothless said, Hiccup translating what he said to her. Astrid's eye began to water up before dashing over and hugging Toothless around his neck.
"Thank you Toothless." Astrid said. Toothless purred and nuzzled her neck in response.
"You're welcome Astrid." Toothless responded. "Now climb on her and let's go flying already!"
Astrid did not need to be told twice, as she quickly climbed onto Stormfly's back, taking Zephyr aboard too.
"You ready to fly again, brother?" Toothless asked Hiccup.
"I thought you never asked, bud." Hiccup replied in kind "Now old on, Nuffy. This is going to be the ride of your life." Soon, all dragons were airborne, and for possibly this time only, two families were one.
Chapter 2 completed! I will be making a 3rd and final chapter to this story, so stay tuned for that!
