Happy belated Canada Day! :D And happy Independence Day if you are in the US XD. So here it is, the last official chapter. There will be an epilogue after this, but if you were just sticking around to see the ending you could finish off here. I feel like this chapter wraps everything up in a nice little bow. But I won't keep you reading this longer. See you at the bottom!

Hiccup waited seven and a half long, painful hours at the apartment for Toothless to return. He knew Toothless was out doing jobs without him, and that worried him as it had from the beginning, but he decided he shouldn't make it worse by going out after him. He had been bored out of his skull the whole time, seeing as in the last couple of days he had cleaned the entire condo top to bottom, cooked and frozen enough meals to last several weeks, and watched everything on the PVR at least twice. But when Toothless walked in all those hours later, grocery bags in hand, Hiccup couldn't find it in himself to continue the argument. Instead, he walked up to Toothless, took half of the bags, brought them to the kitchen, and started to unpack them. While nothing was said, Hiccup made it very clear: he knew Toothless had done some business while he had been out, and he was hurt that Toothless was working alone again, and he wanted to make sure Toothless knew all of this. They worked together in silence for about five minutes before they were done and either of them found the courage to speak. It was Toothless that broke the heavy silence.

"Look, I'm sorry for storming out earlier. And I completely get why you were mad. You have every right to be. I know this won't make up for anything, but the gang will be coming over tonight. I figured it's at least some sort of social interaction. You know, other than me."

Hiccup wasn't entirely satisfied with that, but he wouldn't complain with what little he could get without a fight. Besides, seeing the others would be nice for a change. Hiccup was about to run through a list of things he should do before they arrive, but seeing as the entire place had been scrubbed top to bottom and Toothless had already picked up some snacks, there was really nothing that needed to be done. So, Hiccup did the only thing he could think to do: he walked over to the bookcase, picked up the next book in the Heroes of Olympus series since it was the only book he hadn't read yet, and cracked it open to the first page.

The gang was set to arrive one at a time, probably still trying to avoid being in public together too much. But tonight was the night they would finally all be in one place again, and it would be behind the safety of closed doors. Before anyone arrived, however, Toothless indicated to Hiccup that he wanted a small favour.

"Hiccup," Toothless started, a little uneasy and nervous, "I want to talk to everyone tonight, but I'd rather you not be there."

Hiccup was hurt by that statement, and he was also a little confused. What was there about the business that Toothless didn't want Hiccup to know about? Regardless, Hiccup nodded wordlessly.

"Alright, how do you want this to happen?"

"How about a poker game?" Toothless pondered aloud. "We can set it up and you can say you don't want to play. It would be the perfect chance to just watch and excuse yourself when necessary. Then I can talk to them."

"Alright," Hiccup agreed. He still wasn't happy, but after their last argument he didn't want to start anything new. And above all, he still had an unwavering trust in Toothless that he wasn't going to let fade so easily, and so he agreed. Hiccup set to work immediately, making sure there were enough chairs around the circular dining table to fit everyone as well as getting out the poker table designed table cloth Hiccup had thought was tacky at first. Who knew it would come in so handy?

Stormfly arrived first, just moments later, followed quickly by Meatlug. A few minutes later brought the twins, who were bickering even as they walked through the door. Hookfang arrived a little later, after the others had already had a drink and some snacks. With everyone present, Hiccup threw the snacks that needed to be cooked into the oven and started to help organize the game of poker with Toothless. Meatlug was the first to agree, not even hesitating. Stormfly agreed next, saying the others would have no chance against her poker face. Barf and Belch took this as a chance for a competition and eagerly sat down at the table across from each other, and Hookfang just seemed to agree because he was the only one left.

Toothless started to deal the first hand, Hiccup standing behind him and looking over his shoulder. Meatlug cocked an eyebrow and asked, "Aren't you going to join us Hiccup?"

Hiccup paused for a moment. He would have liked to, but playing would have made it harder to excuse himself. Hiccup was still confused and it still hurt him a little to think that there was something Toothless didn't feel comfortable talking to everyone about around him after all this time, but he didn't think it best to question his logic right after an argument or while everyone else was here.

"I need to focus on the food in the oven," Hiccup said, not entirely lying. As if on cue, the timer on the oven rang and Hiccup left to go get the spinach puffs out of the oven. After carefully removing them from the oven, he took them off the tray and placed them on two separate platters. He set one at each end of the table, careful not to disturb the cards in the middle for their current round of Texas Hold'em.

Hiccup returned to his position behind Toothless, silently watching the next few hands. When it came to Hookfang's turn to deal, Toothless silently turned his head to Hiccup and nodded. Catching the message, Hiccup silently excused himself and headed over to the stairs. He ascended at a regular pace, then halted immediately as soon as he was behind the wall. He promised Toothless he wouldn't be there; he didn't promise that he wouldn't listen in. He made sure to remain perfectly quiet as well, lest Stormfly and her superhuman senses discover his presence.

Toothless started after the hand was over, after the clacking of the winner collecting their chips was done. Judging by the chuckle, it had been Meatlug.

"Alright everyone, I need to talk to you about something serious."

All sound in the room immediately ceased. The sound of shuffling cards stopped, the squeaking of chairs ceased, and the whispers between Stormfly and Meatlug halted mid-sentence. Hiccup couldn't see anyone but he knew that smiles had dropped and everyone was all ears. Toothless wasn't one for unnecessary pauses but it seemed like Toothless was taking forever to continue.

"You all helped me take over a little over three years ago. We took the torch from RD and now, I think it's time to pass on the torch once more."

No one spoke for a solid minute. Stealing a peak around the corner, Hiccup saw confused faces mixed with a little shock. He quickly returned to his hiding place to avoid being spotted.

"Toothless, what are you saying?" Meatlug asked gently.

"It's time for me to leave, to pass on leadership to one of you. My time in this enterprise is complete. It is time one of you takes over from me."

"But why now? What inspired this?" Stormfly asked.

"Quite frankly, Hiccup." Hiccup immediately perked up at the mention of his name, venturing to stick his head out around the corner once more. "We broke him out of prison, something that we've never had to do before. I won't feel safe letting him out on the streets again. They'll be searching for him for years, and with his father, I think the search will be even more intense. Plus they'll be keeping an eye on me to see if he's with me. I can't subject Hiccup to that. We need to leave, to go somewhere he won't be hunted."

"Wow, Toothless," Barf said, "Are you sure about this? You'd be giving up almost everything."

"I'm sure. Hiccup is the one thing that would give me enough motivation to do this. This is all I've ever known, as it is for most of us. But I'll have to change for him."

Hiccup had a very hard time resisting jumping out and hugging Toothless. He was willing to leave the mob, give up his whole life, just for him?

"But where will you go?" Meatlug asked, legitimately curious. Hookfang had just been sitting, one knuckle near his mouth this whole time, clearly thinking about something.

"Somewhere out of the country. Somewhere they won't think to look. I was thinking France."

"But Toothless, there are only two ways to give up power," Hookfang chimed in, clearly indicating what he had been thinking this whole time. "You either need to be 'taken out', or you need to select someone to take over power."

"Well seeing as I don't want to be 'taken out'", Toothless cracked with a small smile, "I have selected someone. And I did it in a way I hope you will all find fair and reasonable."

"Well, who is it then?" Belch asked, leaning forward in anticipation.

"You all have the potential to be just as good a leader as I was. You all have the knowhow to take over. So, I picked the person who has the most experience, even more than I do." Turning to his left, Toothless asked, "Meatlug, can you take over for me?"

When Hiccup thought about it, Meatlug did make the most sense. She was almost like a motherly figure to everyone else, and she got along with everyone. Hiccup knew Hookfang (and especially Snotlout) was power hungry, but no one would go against Meatlug. There would be too much retaliation from the others.

With a smile, Meatlug replied, "Of course, anything for you and Hiccup."

"Thank you so much." Toothless immediately got up and gave her a hug.

Hiccup barely registered what happened next, seeing as he felt like he was in a surreal state of mind. He immediately headed up to the bedroom, grabbed his tablet, and started typing. Toothless was going to take him to France so he could have his freedom, and he was ecstatic to go. But if he was going to leave the country forever, there were two things he felt he needed to do: brush up on his French, and write a letter.

Hiccup took a solid thirty minutes to write his letter. It was short but thorough, and he felt it got across exactly what he needed it to. He stuffed the letter into an envelope he had nearby and dropped it into his top drawer. He didn't want to think about it constantly before it was delivered, and he felt there was something final behind it when the saliva and glue sealed the flap shut.

Deeming that a half hour away would be an acceptable amount of time had he not known what was going on, Hiccup decided to make his way back downstairs. He stepped on the squeaky step deliberately to alert the others to his presence, and when there was no direct response he took up his spot behind Toothless once more.

A quick glance around the table and Hiccup noticed two distinct changes: the spinach puffs were almost gone, and Meatlug and Stormfly were cleaning up at the expense of the twins and Hookfang. Toothless seemed to be fairing pretty decently all things considered.

Toothless won the hand a moment later, and Hiccup took this opportunity to gauge the mood around the table.

Stormfly let out a groan of disappointment, but nothing that would indicate any underlying disappointment. She and Meatlug tossed their cards away from them gently, clearly just disappointed in losing a few bucks that hand.

"HA!" Barf laughed, a positive sign, "Belch is bankrupt!" He broke out in a laughing fit, at least until Belch piped in.

"Well I'm only bankrupt because I had to loan you a hundred and fifty dollars a few hands back! Which, by the way, you still owe me."

Feigning insult, Barf placed a hand gently on his chest and asked, "Would you really make your only brother, your twin no less, pay you back such an insignificant amount of change when I give you so much already?"

Without hesitation, Belch responded with a stoic expression, "Yes."

Hiccup could clearly tell there was nothing wrong there. But that left Hookfang, and he was the one Hiccup feared would harbour the most resentment to Meatlug being asked to take over. He was a little harder to read as he stayed silent between hands, but it was his turn to deal next. He watched Hookfang deal the cards, and noticed he was gently tossing them as most people would rather than slamming them down. His expression remained unchanged the entire hand, and Hiccup didn't know if he should chalk that up to a foul mood or an amazing poker face.

Hiccup's answer came approximately three minutes later, when Hookfang won the hand with a straight flush. He may have tried to remain calm, but Hiccup definitely noticed the small victory wiggle and the crack of a smile forming on his face. If Hookfang was having a good time Hiccup highly doubted he was off put by the evening's events.

Only a few more hands passed before the gang decided to start heading out. As with how they came, they left one at a time in order to stay separate. Small conversations dwindled along with their number, until eventually Meatlug bade the final farewell and stepped across the threshold of the condo.

Hiccup immediately wanted to hear confirmation of what he had heard earlier, but he didn't want to seem too eager and give away to Toothless that he had been listening. Toothless, however, had other ideas.

He took the dishes over to the sink and started to wash them while Hiccup cleaned and folded the tablecloth before putting it away. They worked in relative silence, but Hiccup didn't notice as his mind was set. Their silent sequence of events eventually moved upstairs, and finally into the bed where they laid together for a while. Hiccup was about to cave and finally ask, but Toothless beat him to it.

"Hiccup, I think we should leave."

"What do you mean?" Hiccup asked, attempting not to sound too excited. He had to remind himself that he was supposed to know nothing at least twice.

"I won't feel safe letting you out of the condo, not with your father and the police hunting for you. So I think we should leave. Go somewhere where we don't have to worry about the cops being constantly on us. Besides, it would be the perfect excuse for me to get out of this business. I would finally get to do something new with my life."

Hiccup hadn't realized until just now, but Toothless may have made this decision as much for himself as he did for Hiccup. This was his chance to change his life too, and apparently he really did want to. Perhaps being thrown in prison hadn't been the worst thing that could have happened after all.

"Where do you think we should go?" Hiccup tried to seem like he was just lazily asking.

"France." Toothless didn't even beat around the bush, and if Hiccup wasn't sure before he was sure now: Toothless had his mind set on France for a reason.

"Why France?" This was the one piece of information Hiccup didn't know, and he was legitimately curious. He actually elevated himself on one arm as he asked, in order to look Toothless in the eye.

Toothless turned his head away and said, "No extradition treaty." Hiccup was confused as to why Toothless had looked away and why his response there had been so quick and to the point, but he decided not to push it. He would find out in time and right now there were other things he wanted to find out.

"When do we leave?"

Toothless looked back at Hiccup before answering, and after cracking a smile he asked, "When will you be ready?"

"Two days?"

"Well then, I guess we leave in two days."

"But how are we going to get there?" Hiccup asked, resting his head on Toothless' bare chest. His head rose and fell with Toothless' breath, and Hiccup could hear the rhythmic beating of Toothless' heart in his ribcage.

"A private jet would bring too much attention, so we're going to fly commercial. A little make up, a fake moustache, and no one will even know it's you."

"But we'll need passports to get to France," Hiccup started, but Toothless cut him off.

"Come on Hiccup, I have that machine that makes fake licences on demand, do you not think I can make a few passports?" Toothless smiled down at Hiccup, who couldn't help but smile back.

"Fair enough," was all Hiccup said before he gently closed his eyes and they both drifted off to sleep.

The next two days were hectic, but neither Toothless nor Hiccup had any problem with that. The morning of day one was mostly packing, cramming clothing into suitcases and picking which essentials they would be bringing with them. Toothless also informed Hiccup that Stormfly would be responsible for selling the condo and sending them the money from the sale after they had left.

That afternoon they headed out to the warehouse. This was the first time that Hiccup was allowed out of the condo, and Toothless was still very nervous about it. Hiccup was forced to wear a massive hoodie, sunglasses, a baseball cap and baggy jeans, an outfit that Hiccup thought would just bring more attention to him, but they got to the parking garage and out of downtown without any problems.

When they arrived at the warehouse, there was another car waiting out front. Hiccup was concerned at first but Toothless quickly explained.

"It's just the makeup artist."

"Makeup artist?" Toothless' explanation didn't really explain much and it only served to confuse Hiccup further.

"Yeah, I mean all the security guards at the airport are going to know what you look like, right? So we are going to change the way you look just a little. And it needs to be done today because we need you to look like the picture in your fake passport…."

"Which we are going to take today," Hiccup finished.

"Exactly."

After parking around back in the garage and letting the makeup woman in, the three continued to a room upstairs Hiccup had actually only ever been in once. It was a simple square room with windows on one side and a wall of mirrors on the other. Hiccup had no idea what the room was ever used for (or if it even had been), but he didn't question it.

The artist got to work erasing Hiccup's freckles, extending his nose just a little, and even dying his hair. Hiccup was slightly hesitant when it came to the coloured contacts, but he finally agreed. However he would only put them in just before they left for the airport.

The entire process took a little over an hour, and Toothless returned just in time to witness the big reveal. Hiccup had to admit, the artist had done an amazing job. If he hadn't known it was himself looking at his own reflection, he would never have recognized himself.

"Wow, that's amazing," Toothless commented as he handed a cheque to the artist. After thanking her once again and her reassuring she could find her own way out, she left. Toothless returned to Hiccup, who was still examining himself in the mirror.

"Well, we have our tickets," Toothless said, waving the papers in his hand around. "We are booked on an 11:30 a.m. flight tomorrow."

"Sounds great," Hiccup said as he took the papers to examine them. He saw two fake names, a Damian Night and an Eric Night. Before Hiccup even had a chance to ask, Toothless clarified.

"You're Eric. I hope you don't mind, I just picked a name."

"It's fine," Hiccup assured. "And you picked a really cool name for yourself. Damian. I like it."

"Actually, I didn't pick that." When Hiccup only provided a confused look in question, Toothless clarified once more. "My parents did. That's actually my real name. And actually, other than me you're now the only living person that knows that."

"Aww, Toothless," Hiccup said as he ran up to and embraced Toothless. Hiccup was surprised at himself that he wasn't hurt that it had taken three years plus for him to tell Hiccup his real first name, but then he realized: Toothless was all he had ever known him as. It was all anyone had ever known him as. So in effect, that had become his real name.

"I think you should start calling me Damian now," Toothless said as he pulled away from the hug, "Just so we don't have to worry about slip ups tomorrow. Is that OK Eric?"

"Of course Damian," Hiccup winked.

"Great, now let's go get your picture taken. It's the last thing that we need for your passport."

Grabbing his colour contacts, Hiccup followed Toothless out to the room where he had gotten his first fake licence all that time ago.

When they arrived home from the warehouse it was almost 11:00 p.m. Toothless wanted to head straight to bed in order to prepare for the day tomorrow, and Hiccup pretended to agree. Little did Toothless know he had one last thing to do before they left.

At around 1:30 a.m., when Hiccup was certain Toothless was asleep, Hiccup went into the next room and changed into some inconspicuous street clothes. He silently made his way down to the lobby, then out to the street. He knew Toothless would be mad if he discovered he was going out on his own, but it was something he had to do.

One half hour cab ride later and Hiccup was outside a set of cemetery gates. They creaked as he pushed the rusted metal entryway open and Hiccup started to walk the path he had memorized years ago. He knew he'd arrived when he saw the tombstone that he had seen many times in his life: his mother's. He knelt on the ground in front of it and just started to talk.

Hiccup spent the next several hours just talking, hoping his mother could hear him. He asked for advice, he told his story, and he apologized for not visiting for a while. But most importantly, he said goodbye. He apologized that he wouldn't be able to return again. He asked her not to be mad, and that he was doing what made him happy. He was startled when a voice suddenly appeared behind him.

"I'm sure she understands." The voice was soft, kind, and most definitely Toothless'. Hiccup immediately went into apology mode.

"Toothless, I'm so sorry, I…"

"Stop," Toothless interrupted abruptly. "I get why you came here. I understand. I'm not mad. I just wish you would have told me." Toothless smiled as if to prove his point, and Hiccup smiled back.

Getting off his knees, he turned to Toothless and said, "Thanks," before returning to his mother's head stone and saying, "Goodbye mom. I miss you."

A single tear fell from Hiccup's eye as he said that and turned to walk away from his mother's final resting place, but only Toothless noticed. Neither said anything as they sat in quiet contemplation for the car ride back to the apartment.

When they arrived back at the apartment, it was already six in the morning and almost time for them to leave. Hiccup hadn't realized how much time had passed and now he had stayed awake all through the night. But he knew there was nothing he could do about it now so he simply moved on with what he had to do.

Taking a few minutes to gather their fake passports, pack the last of their things, and bring it all to the door, Hiccup and Toothless prepared to leave the place that had been their combined home for the past several years for the last time. Hiccup didn't know how Toothless had done it, but in two days he had found an apartment in Paris that they could move into as soon as they landed. Hiccup paused as he was about to close the door for the last time, sparing just one passing glance at the space and remembering when he had seen it for the first time. He would be lying if he said he wasn't going to miss this condo. No words were exchanged as Toothless locked the door for the last time.

As they descended in the elevator, nothing could be heard other than their breathing. A soft ding indicated their arrival in the lobby, and as Toothless gave the key to the security guard that would hold it until Stormfly arrived a little later, Hiccup quickly dropped his letter from the day before into the mailbox. By the time it arrived they would be long gone, and that was exactly what Hiccup wanted.

The entire gang had arrived to drive them to and see them off at the airport. Hiccup had to admit it was nice for all of them to show up, and he got his chance to say one last goodbye to the gang. When they arrived at the airport it didn't feel like a goodbye, and Hiccup was grateful for that. Meatlug simply provided some advice, the twins bickered, Stormfly joked that at least they wouldn't have to put up with Camicazi trying to swipe stuff from them anymore, and Hookfang promised to take good care of the cars and the warehouse since he would be taking those off of Toothless' hands. They didn't step out of the car however so that they wouldn't all be caught on airport security footage.

After the final goodbyes, Hiccup and Toothless got out of the car and watched the SUV limo speed off. When it was no longer in sight they headed inside, checked in, and headed for security.

"Damian, I have to admit, I'm nervous," Hiccup said as they neared the front of the line, but assuring he used Toothless' proper name.

"Eric, everything will be fine," Toothless reassured as he took off his shoes and placed them on the conveyor belt, encouraging Hiccup to follow suit. He gave Hiccup a smile that he couldn't argue with, then passed through the body scanner.

When it was Hiccup's turn he was so nervous he was worried the sweat would cause the makeup to run and his cover to be blown. He walked up to the security guard and while he wasn't sure if it was just his hyperawareness or not, he swore the guard looked longer and closer at him than anyone else. Regardless, Hiccup breathed an internal sigh of relief as the guard allowed him past and he walked through the scanner without a hitch.

They reclaimed their things and waited for the flight, grabbing a quick sandwich at the café behind security.

"So," Hiccup started between bites of his Panini, "Have you ever been to Paris before?"

"Nope, so this'll be interesting," Toothless said before a large bite.

"So where is our new place located?"

"Downtown Paris. It's actually a really nice area. We really should've thanked Hookfang again for buying the cars; he's the reason we could afford it off the bat," Toothless replied before taking a large bite of his own wrap. Hiccup couldn't help but chuckle a little at that. When he was done, Toothless continued. "Although one car is being shipped over. I just couldn't let it go."

"Which one?"

"The Zonda."

"You really like that car don't you?"

"It's been there for all the important moments in our life," Toothless smiled. Hiccup smiled back and then yawned, exhausted from his lack of sleep. Fortunately for him, just then an announcement came over the loudspeaker indicating their flight was ready for boarding.

Grabbing their bags and heading to the gate, they entered the line to get onto the plane. They were in first class so they got to board first, and Hiccup was grateful for that too. Hiccup sat down as soon as they got inside and Toothless got to work putting their carry-ons in the overhead compartments.

"Hiccup, have you ever flown before?" Toothless asked as he sat down and fastened his seatbelt. When he received no response he looked over and found Hiccup already fast asleep in his seat. Toothless just chuckled gently and fastened Hiccup's seatbelt for him. As he let out a yawn of his own, he realized a nap didn't sound like a bad idea. And within a few minutes, Toothless too was asleep and ready to enter his new life with Hiccup.

And so they're off. I'm guessing most of you can guess what the epilogue is going to be XD. For those of you sticking with me till then, see you on the other side. If you're not, then I'll say thanks for reading now :)

Epilogue: On or before July 25

And in case someone didn't follow it but was interested, I just posted the story of how Toothless proposed in "The Untold Stories".

It's a long flight to Paris, why not give them a little reading material in case they wake up early? They love to read reviews :)