That Day

That day, Toothless was with his rider in his last moments.

Hiccup had been bedridden for a few years now. The only thing that could get him out of bed, was flying and the bathroom. He still loved to fly, felt the years of age and all the hardships he had experienced melt off of him. He also refused to deny Toothless the dragon's most basic want - the one that brought them together in the first place.

But for the last two weeks, Toothless had adamantly refused to go flying. He knew the cold winds weren't good for Hiccup's already damaged health. He stayed by the bed, all day, every day. The retired Chief would fall into violent coughing fits, and it was up to his granddaughter Ideth to take care of him, for her father was the Chief, and Astrid had passed on a few years before.

Some days though, Ideth or one of Hiccup's other children or grandchildren couldn't take care of him all the time. Ideth had left briefly, saying she needed to check on her nephew Jonsi quickly, and was gone for half an hour. That was when Hiccup passed.

"Look at me buddy," Hiccup croaked. Toothless' large, concerned green eyes met his smaller sad one's. Toothless knew his human was dying, he could feel it, feel the life leave the frail body. He put his hands on either side of the large, scaly head. "You are amazing, Toothless."

Toothless put his head under Hiccup's arm and rested his warm head lightly, gently, on Hiccup's chest. Hiccup sighed with pleasure; despite the crackling fire and the blankets piled up on him, his body was still cold, but Toothless filled it with warmth. "Y-you're the best friend I ever had." He began coughing, and Toothless waited patiently. He knew his boy wasn't done talking yet.

Hiccup closed his eyes, and when he opened them, he resumed eye contact with his dragon. And Toothless, easily, saw the old man transform back into the young boy who was trying to kill a Night Fury. "I know this is going to be hard for you, with me, being gone. The fact that dragons live much longer than humans, it'll be a while until we meet again."

Toothless' eyes seemed to say, Thank you for summing that up. Hiccup laughed softly, and then dissolved into another coughing fit. Toothless hated the sound, recognized it as meaning his human - his rider and most trusted, most loved friend - wasn't getting better.

"But, we will meet again," Hiccup said firmly. He placed his warm, familiar palm on Toothless' snout, and the dragon nuzzled it. And again, he saw the frail man transform back into the young, brave boy who decided to trust him not to take his hand off. He knew Hiccup was thinking along the same lines. Hiccup smiled softly, showing his familiar crooked teeth. Toothless returned it with a gummy smile of his own. Hiccup wrapped his frail arms around the dragon's thick neck and hugged him tightly.

Toothless, although initially surprised when Hiccup had hugged him all those years ago at his first Snoggletog, leaned into it carefully, knowing he was much more powerful than Hiccup. He lightly put his head on top of the man's. Hiccup withdrew, his body growing weaker by the second. He placed his hand back on Toothless' snout, once again maintaining eye contact with his dragon.

"Thank you for nothing, you useless reptile," Hiccup wheezed, half-smiling. Toothless made a sad and desperate sounding crooning noise. He drew in a rattling breath that was hard to take. Toothless could feel the warmth fading from Hiccup's hand. "I love you Toothless."

Hiccup's hand went limp on the dragon's still snout. His glassy eyes stared without seeing into Toothless' eyes.

Just like they were in the beginning.

Toothless blew air threw his nostrils on Hiccup's forehead, tossing strands of his remaining gray hair up and down, trying to wake him like the dragon did nearly seventy years ago after the defeat of the Red Death. When Hiccup didn't make any movements, Toothless made a long whining sound as grief filled him up to the brim.

The Night Fury nuzzled the old man in the side, because he had to wake up - Hiccup couldn't be dead. Hiccup couldn't be dead! Nothing happened, despite his best efforts. Ideth came in a moment later and gasped, the pitcher of water she was carrying shattering on the floor. She raced out of the room, and soon Hiccup's family - his son and daughter, Ideth and her husband and her brother, and her two cousins and their children - came back.

Liquid filled all of their eyes and spilled down their cheeks. Toothless knew what it was: tears. A representation of extreme sadness or happiness.

That day, sadness broke like a dam through the dragon.

Much to his surprise, he howled and roared and felt something hot and wet pouring down his own face; he was crying too. Suddenly, the room was too small and full of people. He needed to leave. He couldn't look at Hiccup any longer.

He ran out of the room as fast as he could, towards the forest, not thinking about where he was going, not caring.

That day, he roared bloody murder at everything and almost destroyed half of Berk's forest, wanting to make the trees and animals feel some small fraction of the unbearable pain he was feeling.

He torched trees, turning small birds and rodents to ash. He roared and wailed in pain - worse than any physical wound he had ever felt, worse than even getting his tailfin torn off and realizing he would never be able to fly again. Worse than facing the flames of the Red Death, or almost drowning in the water before the battle.

He screamed at the gods for their unfairness, screaming that they take him as well. He wanted to plunge off a cliff, have a dagger pierce his chest. Anything, ANYTHING would be better than this.

He wound up at a familiar place - the Cove. Old, gray scales that he had shed was still there. A torn off tree branch and a thin stick lying next to a large boulder was still there. Memories hit him like that bola did so many nights ago, as harsh and real as it had been, but filled with much more happiness. A kind of terrible ache of happiness and sadness and longing built up inside of him, threatening to spill over and make him lose his mind.

One loud, clear though filled his mind as he struggled to find something to take the pain away: But, we will meet again. One day, he would see Hiccup again. Somehow, in some way he would. That day would come, eventually.

That day, Berk and a Night Fury mourned. That day, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third died.

Berk held a magnificent funeral, and loaded their most beloved Chief onto a funeral pyre. Toothless lit it on fire. Once the wood and body had been turned into ash, the ashes rose in the air, carried along by the wind. The dragon thought it was fitting - up to his last weeks of life, Hiccup loved flying. Toothless vowed he would never fly again, until he was back with his boy.

A few months later, a couple weeks into winter, a gravestone was put in the graveyard, as per tradition. Inscribed on the stone was The Rider of the Night Fury. And underneath, And His Night Fury's Friend.

If grief hadn't blocked out any sane thoughts from Toothless' mind, he would've been honoured that the way his human would be defined as his rider, but anger mingled with his sadness.

Friend. The word didn't even hold the tiniest sliver to the bond he and Hiccup had shared - closer than even best friends. They were brothers, although of different blood and species. The dragon pushed down the urge to scream some more at the gods, and laid down with his head on his paws at Hiccup's gravestone.

They would meet again some day, and Toothless couldn't imagine waiting any longer than he had to. He refused to eat, refused to move. He didn't even light a fire to warm himself as the snow piled up. He was too heavy to move, despite Hiccup's two sons best efforts.

Within the winter, Toothless was gone.

Seeing as no one but the dead really knows what happens after someone leaves, nobody can say exactly what happened to the boy and his dragon. But on clear nights, sometimes the villagers of Berk swear they see a boy riding a dark dragon across the full moon, or faint laughter of a human and purring of a dragon in a secluded cove in the woods.