Soooo sorry for the long wait. Preparing for the holidays may be fun but it can also be a torture! Well, this is it, everybody…the last and final chapter of "How to Live Without Dragons"! Yaaaaayyyyy! Such a bittersweet time for all of us but as they say, all good things must come to an end. Thank you all for waiting, reading and reviewing! Now enjoy the end of the story!
Chapter 51: Epilogue: 2019
Many, Many, Many Centuries Later
Location: Great Hall, Valhalla
Date: February 22, 2019
Time: 12:01 p.m.
(Hiccup PoV)
As the centuries passed, Hiccup reunited with all the rest of his family and friends and they had all reunited with their dragon friends as well and made some new friends with the deceased dragons of the dragons' section of Valhalla.
Hiccup had also watched the Viking Age come and go as well as other ages, decades and centuries from his place in Valhalla. He watched the world expand and witnessed all the changes that went with it.
Now the year was 2019 and once again, he and Astrid were to celebrate their wedding anniversary.
As they made their way hand-in-hand to Valhalla's Great Hall with Zephyr, Brant, Nuffink and Nott right behind them, they passed by many, many people that stood on either side of them.
"Happy anniversary, Hiccup, Astrid," one of the women said.
"Thank you," Hiccup and Astrid said together.
"If you don't mind me asking, how long have you been married?" one young man asked.
Hiccup and Astrid looked at each other and grinned. Then Hiccup leaned forward and whispered how long he and Astrid have been married into his ear.
"Woah!" the young man exclaimed, "That's even longer since my first girlfriend and I had been together. I'm surprised you haven't even gotten bored with each other."
"How can we get bored with each other when we're still so madly in love?" Hiccup asked, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close.
Astrid smiled as she put a hand to his chest. "Come on, babe. Everyone's waiting for us."
"After you," Hiccup said, gesturing to the Hall's steps in a gentlemanly manner.
Astrid nodded and started up the steps with Hiccup following behind her. Hiccup looked over his shoulder and smiled at his daughter and son and their spouses that were still right behind him. They all smiled back at him.
By the time, Hiccup reached the doorway to the Hall, he looked around in awe. It was highly decorated with old-fashioned Viking decorations and brightly lit with torches. The Hall was extended enough for an unlimited amount of long tables to fill it up and around each table sat all his extended family, all his friends and their extended family.
"Well, even in the modern world, they still like keeping everything looking like the good old-fashioned way," Astrid commented.
"Yeah, they do," Hiccup said. He held out his arm and grinned. "Shall we?"
Astrid grinned, nodded and linked her arm around hers and the two of them marched inside the Hall. As they passed by the limited amount of tables, Hiccup could see the extended family of the Ingermans, the Thorstons, the Jorgensons and the Hoffersons. He could see Atali and all the Wingmaidens of the past generations and there was also Mala surrounded by her parents and ancestors. Dagur and Heather were there along with their father, Oswald the Agreeable and their mother and there were also Heather's foster parents. Ingrid, Einar and Finn Hofferson were there along with all the other members of the Hofferson bloodline.
All of his extended family were there as well, his paternal grandparents, Ove and Hertha, his maternal grandparents, Shelby and Valencia, his great-grandmother, Vanessa, his grandsons, Stoick II and Plucky, granddaughters Little Valka and Bordil, his grandchildren's spouses, Randi, Fishy and Gertrude, his great-grandchildren, Zelda and Kare and all the rest of the Haddock bloodline.
"Hiccup! Over here!" came Stoick the Vast's voice.
Hiccup turned towards his father's voice. Stoick was standing beside Valka near one of the tables closest to them and the two of them were waving their arms. Gobber, Eret, Gothi, Tuffnut, Ruffnut, Snotlout, Ronan and Fishlegs were already seated at the table.
Zephyr and Nuffink ran past him and over to the table.
"Grandpa Stoick!" Nuffink called.
"Grandma Valka!" Zephyr exclaimed.
"Hello, my darlings," Valka greeted as she and Stoick pulled them close.
"How are my grandbabies?" Stoick asked.
"Well, I admit we are grand but we stopped being babies a long, long, long time ago," Nuffink said.
"Well, you'll always be babies in my eyes," Stoick insisted.
"And mine," Valka said.
"And mine," Astrid added.
"And mine," Hiccup echoed.
Even after all these centuries, it was still a joy for Hiccup to watch his parents spend some quality time with their grandchildren. As time passed, Stoick and Valka had also spent plenty of quality time with their great-grandchildren, their great-great grandchildren, their great-great-great grandchildren, their great-great-great-great grandchildren and their…well, you get the picture.
And it was an even greater joy for him to be with the both of them after all the hell the three of them endured in life. He wrapped his arms around his parents and kissed their cheeks and they hugged and kissed him back.
After greeting everyone else, they all sat down for lunch and conversations.
…
2:15 p.m.
(Hiccup PoV)
"You know, I'm glad we all lived through the Viking Age," Gobber spoke up, "I'm not exactly fond of how much Midgard has changed over time. I mean, have you seen what folks are living in nowadays? Those big, tall, multi-story buildings…ah, what do you call them again?"
"Skyscrapers," Hiccup answered.
"Yes, skyscrapers," Gobber said, "I mean, what's wrong with a few wee huts for Thor's sake?"
"Well, with the world expanding and more and more people moving into all those new worlds, they couldn't possibly fit in all those little huts could they?" Valka pointed out.
"Well, I suppose not," Gobber admitted, "But still, Midgard is not the same as it used to be. You know what people do for fun nowadays? They sit around and stare at those big flat screens with the moving pictures and sometimes the even smaller flat screens they place on their laps."
"The large flat screens are called televisions and the smaller screens are called tablets," Fishlegs announced.
"Whatever," Gobber grumbled, "They even fiddle with those even tinier devices they call phones and hold it up in front of them."
"We've heard about those," Ruffnut piped up. "They're called taking selfies."
"Yeah and they're fun to do," Tuffnut agreed, "Why they're even funner than drawing yourself in a puny little notebook."
"Well, it's not fun when you try to take one while standing at the edge of a cliff or one of those skyscrapers," Gobber pointed out, "It ended up being the death of them, those muttonheads."
"Well, we don't have to worry about taking a selfie and falling off a cliff at the same time around here because we're already dead!" Tuffnut said, holding out his hands as he said 'dead'.
"Yes, we are aware of that," Gobber muttered.
"But some of the technology nowadays is good for some things, Gobber," Ronan spoke up.
"Like what, may I ask?" Gobber asked.
"Like trackers they use for the animals," Ronan answered, "If they had existed back when I was a lad, my Papa would have found the blue whales a long time ago."
"Yeah, and not everybody stares at the T.V.'s and tablets all the time, Gobber," Nuffink piped up, "They still play outside and stuff. And a whole lot of them play all those sports they came up with over the years like soccer."
"And hockey – field and ice," Nott added.
"Gymnastics," Astrid spoke up.
"Boxing," Snotlout added, pretending to punch something.
"My favorite kind of hockey is the ice kind," Nott said.
"And think of all the writers that have become famous over time," Fishlegs said, "Like Shakespeare and Jules Verne and Charles Dickens and Mark Twain. Oh, I could go on forever!"
"And in the schools, they teach kids some of the stuff that we never imagined we could learn," Brant added.
"Well, that's true," Gobber admitted.
"They've also come up with better treatments for the sicknesses that not even I or the healers before me could cure," Gothi pointed out. "They have better medicines for that blood sickness that Valka had perished from: leukemia."
"Oh, yes, and those who had gotten it and treated for it were luckier than me," said Valka.
"They also have treatments for that sickness I died from: those awful pains in my head," added Nuffink. "Uh, what was it called again?"
"Brain tumor," Zephyr answered.
"Thanks, sis," said Nuffink.
"Don't mention it," smiled Zephyr.
"See, Gobber?" said Hiccup. "Not everything about modern-day Midgard is as bad as it seems."
"Well, I suppose not," Gobber admitted. "But one of the things I'm still not fond of is how much the music has changed. I'm perfectly happy with some strings and horns and winds and stuff but all people listen to nowadays is that ridiculous, loud, DJ mumbo-jumbo."
"I know how you feel, Gobber," Fishlegs said. "I still like all the classical music too."
"That makes two of us," Gobber muttered.
"Well, I for one love the ridiculous, loud, DJ mumbo-jumbo as Gobber puts it," Tuffnut insisted.
"You and me both, bro," Ruffnut said as she and her brother gave each other high-five.
"Ah, speaking of music, what about all those dance moves they came with over the centuries?" Stoick spoke up.
"Oh, many of them are quite creative," said Valka. "The waltz."
"The salsa," said Stoick.
"The r-r-r-rumba," said Valka, laughing.
Stoick laughed along. "The tango."
"Zumba," Stoick and Valka said together and laughed.
"But none of them hold up a candle to the traditional Viking dance we still love, right, Val?" asked Stoick.
"No, dear, they don't," said Valka, wrapping her arms around his beefy left one.
"I'll say they don't," said Gobber. "Even after all these centuries, I still enjoy seeing you lovebirds do that dance."
"Me too," said Hiccup. "In fact, Mom and Dad, why don't you dance for all these people here."
Stoick and Valka looked at Hiccup with funny expressions.
"Dance for all these people, Hiccup?" asked Valka.
"Yeah, Astrid and I could really use some time alone time right now but we can't do that unless we think of some way to distract all these guests," said Hiccup.
"And what better distraction than a man and woman who are just as much in love as we are performing a dance before the entire crowd?" added Astrid.
Stoick and Valka's funny expressions melted away as their lips curled into smiles.
"So, will you be such good parents and distract all these people with a song-and-dance number while my wife and I go out for some alone time?" Hiccup asked politely.
Stoick's smile grew wider. "For you…"
"…our son," Valka continued.
"Anything," Stoick and Valka said together.
"Thanks," Hiccup and Astrid said together in gratitude.
"I'll announce the dance number," Gobber offered, getting up from his seat and making his way to the center of the Hall. "Ahem, attention, everyone. May I have your attention please?"
All eyes turned to the former blacksmith of Berk.
"In honor of the anniversary of Hiccup and Astrid Haddock, the parents of Hiccup would like to perform a song-and-dance number," Gobber continued.
Everyone applauded.
"Can we play music for them?" one man asked.
"Certainly," answered Gobber. "But I insist on a real orchestra for this one! None of this modern DJ nonsense, please."
The man who had asked to play music walked to the center of the Hall carrying a harp.
"Yes, yes, that's what I'm talking about," Gobber said happily.
Stoick laughed and held out his hand. "Come on, Val."
"Certainly, Stoick," said Valka, taking his hand.
Gothi turned to Hiccup and Astrid. "You two best make your way out of here while everyone's focused on them."
"Right," Hiccup said, taking Astrid's hand. "Come on, Astrid."
Keeping away from the hundreds of people of the extended Hall, Hiccup pulled Astrid towards the open doorway. He could hear the strings of the musician's harp and his father whistling the tune of his and Valka's favorite song. Looking over the heads of the enormous crowd, Hiccup could see his parents in the center of the Hall. They were walking around in a circle with their arms pressed together.
He was tempted to watch the dance number but he reminded himself that he had already watched them dance for like nine trillion times during all the time he had spent in Valhalla. And besides, he and Astrid deserved some alone time. And so he and Astrid made their way out the doors.
…
Location: Dragons' Section of Valhalla
Date: February 22, 2019
Time: 4:05 p.m.
(Hiccup PoV)
Hiccup sat on a soft patch of grass of the dragons' section of Valhalla with his arm around Astrid's shoulder. Together they watched the sky dragons glide over them and the sea dragons breach and splash in the Great Water. Not far from them, Toothless, the Light Fury and Stormfly played together.
"Well, what about you, Astrid?" Hiccup asked after about a while of complete silence save for the dragons' calls. "How do you feel about the world today in general?"
Astrid pondered. "Well…maybe it's not the same as how it was when we were alive but Nuffink's right: everybody is still active and playing all those modern sports and stuff."
"And Ronan's right: some of the new equipment can be good for some stuff like taking pictures and tracking animals and stuff," Hiccup added.
"Yeah, even if everybody's crazy about it nowadays," Astrid added.
They both laughed.
"And as for those skyscrapers, Mom's right, not everybody could fit into those tiny huts right?" Hiccup added.
"No, they couldn't," Astrid admitted, "But between you and me, I prefer a nice, cozy hut any day."
"Me too," Hiccup said, pulling her close, "At least everything else here still looks the same from when we were alive."
"Yeah, small huts," Astrid mused.
"Old clothing," Hiccup said.
"Old music," Astrid said.
"People going outdoors to fence," Hiccup said.
"Or practice combat," Astrid added.
"Or ride dragons," Hiccup added.
As if he had just heard that, Toothless trotted up to him, nudged him against the arm and grunted insistently.
"Well, looks like somebody wants to go for a ride," smiled Astrid.
Stormfly padded over to Astrid, nudged her on the head and squawked.
"Looks like Toothless isn't the only one who wants to go for a ride," Hiccup chuckled. He patted Toothless on the head. "All right, bud, we'll go flying."
"I'm so glad all of our dragons' descendants are still safe in the Hidden World," Astrid said as she mounted Stormfly.
"Me too," said Hiccup, climbing onto Toothless' back. "When people began exploring more and more of the world, I was worried they might find out what's hidden under the Great Waterfall and disturb the dragons' peace."
"But thankfully, they found ways to sail around the Waterfall," Astrid said. "And today they still sail around it or steer clear of it."
"And it's been ranked one of the top ten most dangerous places in the world to stay away from," Hiccup said.
Astrid nodded. "That's because any muttonhead who dared to try and find out what's inside that big hole in the ocean, down they went." As she said that last part, she pointed her finger down at the ground.
"And here they came," Hiccup added.
The couple laughed.
Toothless growled impatiently.
"Okay, okay, bud, let's go," Hiccup said.
And with that, Toothless flapped his great bat-like wings and took flight into the late afternoon sky, the Light Fury, Stormfly and Astrid right behind him.
Hiccup took a deep breath as Toothless soared through the blue, blue sky and looked down at the Great Water where he could see the tiny figures of Tidal Class Dragons breaching and swimming about.
About a minute later, he heard the calls of Furies. Hiccup looked down and saw that Toothless' parents and siblings had joined them. Sapphire, Toothless' mother, glided beside Toothless and the mother and son nuzzled.
"Hiccup, look over there," Astrid called.
Hiccup looked over. Two Light Furies were gliding on either side of Toothless' Light Fury mate. She was nuzzling the Light Fury who had the same sky-blue eyes as her and then she nuzzled the second one whose eyes were cobalt blue. Hiccup knew for a fact that those were the Light Fury's parents.
"Hey, Mom, Dad, wait up!" came the sound of Nuffink's voice.
Hiccup turned around to see a group of dragons flying after them. There was Hookfang the Monstrous Nightmare with Snotlout on his back, Ruff and Tuff on Barf and Belch the Zippleback, Fishlegs on Meatlug the Gronckle, Brant and Eret on Fishmeat, Gobber on Grump the Hotburple, Valka on Cloudjumper the Stormcutter and Stoick was riding Skullcrusher the Rumblehorn. Leading them were other Furies: Midnight with his lime-green eyes, black body and white paws, white-nosed, blue-eyed Starspot with Zephyr on her back, white-bodied, black-eared, green-eyed Luna was carrying Nuffink and Nott and there was also Sunray, Starspots' amber-eyed mate and their offspring, Balder with the white body and the black paws and spot on his nose, Swift with her long, white tail and Snowspot with the white spots on the back of her black body.
The two sons and daughter of Toothless and the Light Fury flew right over to them. Midnight hovered over Toothless, Luna glided on his right side and Starspot glided on the left. The three Night Lights called out in greeting and their parents called back.
"What are you guys doing here?" Astrid asked.
"Yeah, we thought you were distracting the guests," Hiccup added.
"We were," Nuffink replied.
"But we missed you," Zephyr admitted.
"Exactly," Gobber called as Grump flapped lazily below them. "What's an anniversary without celebrating it with your friends and family?"
Hiccup smiled and shook his head. "All right, everyone. We missed you too."
"And you're all welcome to join us," Astrid added.
"Why, thank you very much," Nott said before pecking Nuffink on the cheek.
Nuffink blushed at first but then he kissed her back.
Hiccup looked over and watched as Barf and Belch glided right beside Fishlegs and Meatlug. Without hesitation, Ruffnut kissed Fishlegs right on the cheek. Fishlegs looked surprised at first but then he smiled and kissed Ruffnut's cheek back.
A loud roar alerted Hiccup's attention. He looked up and saw Cloudjumper flying upside down over Skullcrusher. Valka slid down the Stormcutter's enormous wing and landed on the green Rumblehorn's back right behind Stoick. Valka wrapped her arms around her husband's wide waist and leaned her head against the back of his shoulder. Stoick glanced over at her with an affectionate smile.
Sunray and Fishmeat were now gliding on either side of Starspot and Zephyr. Sunray and Starspot nuzzled while Brant climbed onto Starspot's back, sat right behind Zephyr and kissed her on the lips.
The Light Fury glided over to Toothless and licked his face and Toothless licked her face back.
"Hey, Eret," Astrid called. "Will you take over Stormfly for a while?"
"Sure thing, Astrid," Eret called. He patted Fishmeat on the side.
The tan Gronckle flapped over to Stormfly and Eret carefully climbed onto her back right behind Astrid. Astrid patted Stormfly on the side of her neck and the Nadder squawked and flew down over Toothless.
Astrid carefully climbed down from Stormfly and sat down right behind Hiccup.
"Hey, Astrid, how did you know I needed a little love?" Hiccup asked with a smile.
Astrid wrapped her arms around his waist and kissed him on the cheek. "You're my husband, babe, I know these things. Plus, I saw the way you looked at all the other couples sharing a little love."
Hiccup grinned and kissed her on the lips. "Happy anniversary, Astrid."
"Happy anniversary, Hiccup," she replied.
Suddenly, Toothless lifted his head up a little and licked him with his slimy pink tongue and then he warbled happily.
"I think he's saying 'I love you Hiccup'," Astrid said.
Hiccup's grin grew wider and he lowered down to rub the side of Toothless' neck gently.
"I love you too, bud," he whispered, "Dad was right: There's no greater gift than love. And there's no better feeling than being surrounded by the ones you love, human and dragon alike."
THE END