A/N: In belated memory of the victims and families of 9/11.

I.

The throngs of crowds watched in awe as Hiccup - dressed heavily in a buckskin jacket - rose from the opening arrows of metal while pedaling a type of bike inside of a basket - like structure. Asterisk immediately pulled out the small one that his friend had given to him several weeks ago as an early ninth birthday present. Now he could watch as an off-white material began to expand out from under the long, black iron rod. Like a ship starting to set sail, the faster Hiccup worked the controls the higher he got and the more flameless fuel he created while pedaling the bigger the balloon inflated. Astrid peered down at him.

"Did you know?" She whispered urgently.

He shook his head hard. "Honest. I didn't know what he was doing."

Everyone got noisier as a large, slender black leg stepped out from the receding shadows and a trim and fit Toothless made an appearance for them. Cheers began to ring out from nearly everyone now as the dragon displayed his enormous size and muscular body while Hiccup worked to fill the blimp-shaped balloon to it's maximum plumpness. As all this was happening, a small rumble of thunder sounded from unseen distances. Asterisk trembled.

"Hiccup's going to be okay, right?"

Astrid wasn't sure how to reassure her cousin.

"I-,"

The insignia of a bold, black thunder bolt appeared on the fully inflated balloon.

"I hope so, Asterisk. Gods I hope so.

OoO

From where he sat upon the leather seat, Hiccup glimpsed down at the villagers below. When his green eyes fell to the small, yellow-headed boy he felt a sense of completion enter his heart that had been sorely lacking. This wasn't just for Toothless, it was for a boy who needed to see something miraculous. "Yeah, Hiccup, yeah!" He let out a holler.

The Night Fury sniggered good-naturedly as Asterisk pumped his fist in the air.

When Hiccup let his gaze turn to meet his father's, the expected stone-faced look was exactly what connected to it. The young, should-be Viking Chief felt his brows draw in apologetically before he tugged at a brown belt fastened around his waist, and planted a well-polished, horned helmet atop his head. Stoick's eyes widened - the breast plate fit…

… Hiccup tugged at the side of it in a gesture of respect.

His father, facing the reality that he might never see his son again, tugged at the side of his own. They let their eyes linger for a few more seconds before Hiccup turned to fully concentrate on the demanding functions of his friends' creation. Two great bundles that were on both sides of the basket snapped down when Toothless pulled back his gigantic wings, and everyone watched as the sturdy black materials came rippling down from the snapped cords. Now as they came to a stoned point, dragons joined the human populace.

Stoick looked around in search of disapproval but no one seemed too particularly mad.

Instead as Toothless arrived at the rock tip he surveyed his brethren from the base of the large stone to the far reaches of the ocean that lay beyond the buildings and construction. The dragons looked to one another excitedly as Toothless retracted his teeth in, flared his nostrils out to summon a deep inner power and blasted a volley of great, blue energy right up into the gold - tinted atmosphere. They roared in literal approval as they all threw back their heads and sent accompanying, voluminous energy attacks bursting up after the black dragon's. Together the swirls of energies created an intertwined upsurge of colorful lights.

Everyone - with the exception of Astrid and Stoick - burst into applause.

Now that the entire village was aware of what was going on, Hiccup turned his attention to a switch that was near the handle of his basket bike. With a start, and a glance over at a watchful Toothless, the young man flicked it out of place and the pair began to rise up into the air. In place of his sense of control came the embodiment of man and beast as a series of sensations and impulses began to spill through Hiccup's body. When Toothless moved his now off-the-ground left paw to get back down; Hiccup cranked the loosened, left handle to bring the entire contraption down. This worked with all their arms and legs. Cords bounded Toothless and Hiccup's limbs and when the dragon made a move then his exact action would trigger a sensation for his friend to move as well; A pilot and co-pilot.

ooo

"I wonder what controls the tail part." Gobber wondered aloud. "We stopped mid-way."

"What do you mean?" Stoick turned to him gruffly.

"Well, obviously Hiccup doesn't have a tail… unless of course he's a shape shifter."

They watched as the young man strained and the metal arrows, jointed from wood - taut joint to wood taut joint, formed a large fan at the end of a sturdy wood lumbered tail. Two more black material vanes that had thin cords attached to them appeared, trailing down to Toothless's bottom vanes and tail pieces. It was simultaneous the way the two worked. A monumental effort in order to control such a massive invention. Yet, they worked well as a combined unit. People marveled at the way they began to gently gain gradual buoyancy.

"Now, I'm just wonderin'," Gobber leaned sideways to Stoick, "I mean, obviously you've not seen him since he was a wee babe. But compared to you, what size would you say…"

… The Viking chief didn't say a word; quieting his friend.

Hiccup continued to wince and frown as the ironed blades of the tail fin went to work.

Up ahead were some familiar faces waiting for them.

OoO

Toothless met the young adult Viking foursome and their dragons at the base of a small, planked platform. He craned his scaly neck from side-to-side to meet their gazes in pure appreciation. They nodded their happiness to take part in what was happening and turned to gaze up at Hiccup who nodded back with a warm smile. A slightly suspenseful second arose as the Night Fury continued watching him and a slip of transparent black moved all the away across his eye. Hiccup grew worried for him until he saw a ring of glowing blue appear; He felt a wave of understanding for the unknowns they was about to delve into.

As Toothless turned his head back around to face forward, Hiccup went to work placing on a pair of clear-rock goggles - held in place by a snapping latch and a tight knot - while tugs at his arms and legs demanded his attention. They couldn't make him act in any absolute accordance with the dragon's motions, but Hiccup knew he was going to have to keep up if they were to achieve and maintain perfect lift-off. The twins riding their Zippleback on one side and Snotface and Fishlegs on the other side gave themselves big smug looks before going down under the fourteen-foot arisen structure and pulling down on four long cords.

With a rippling affect, the paneled platform unfurled itself at breakneck speed as it went down plank-for-plank to the end before stopping just short of a crook in the main docks. The four friends rode their dragons to the very end of it where it had stopped and made two long beams fall to the ground that were attached underneath. From there some of the youngest Vikings with their child dragons went to work at securing them into the ground.

OoO

When Toothless looked back one more time at Hiccup, he knew it was time. He nodded at the dragon who thrust both of his over twelve-foot-span wings out like giant drapes that moved with a kind of hidden majesty to them. In correlation with this, the forty-four-foot long wings of the balloon moved in exactness as he flexed his natural ones around. And when he would move his tail around slowly in a compromise to Hiccup, two more vanes at the top and bottom of his tail tip flicked out. And Hiccup, flinching, would tolerate it. This in turn caused the big iron arrow-tip fan to spin around with thin cords along the lumber tail.

They situated themselves and their enormous structure while just barely making contact with the ground, positioned themselves at a perfect, straight angle and braced themselves for take-off; Toothless went at a headlong dash - having no idea if any of this would work - and found himself able to gallop at full speed down the long track with his newly worked on limbs cording with lean muscle. He released a roar of excitement and bolted up into the air. Toothless didn't anticipate falling, he didn't anticipate crashing, he expected full flight.

ooo

Hiccup, anticipating falling, anticipating crashing - was surprised when he achieved just the opposite. With his movements matching Toothless's - pulling levers, cranking handle bars and yanking on cords; they both managed to achieve flight into the dawn of gray twilight.

OoO

"Now, I'm just curious Astrid." Gobber leaned over to his left where Astrid still gawked in amazement at what had just happened. "You've seen Hiccup in ways that we haven't."

She sent him a stiff glare. "He just flew away in an untested balloon contraption and…

… and!.?"

"And I was just wondering, and I know it's been two years… how big would you say…?"

Astrid grit her teeth dangerously at him.

The four: Astrid, Asterisk, Gobber and Stoick: stood together watching as they flew out.

And flew away.

ooo

"Good-bye, Hiccup… and good-luck, my son."

'I love you.'

To be continued…

~ Lavenderpaw ~