A Changing World

Act 2

Chapter 23: Epilogue Four

"This isn't going to work, Hiccup," protested Yang as she stared into the eyes of the Orange Monstrous Nightmare before her.

"It will. Trust me, Yang. It didn't go wrong for me, so it won't for you," he responded.

"But it was on fire just a second ago. I'd rather not be set alight too," she replied, her eyes noting trails of smoke rising from the grass around the orange creature that stood ten meters away from her with its wings down.

Suddenly, Yang felt a hand press into the centre of her back, pushing her forward. "Wha- Hiccup!" She yelped

"Just relax and everything will be fine," he stated calmly, as he directed Yang towards the dragon. "Besides, you've got aura if anything goes wrong," he added, once he decided she was close enough.

"Not helping," Yang ground out.

"Trust me, nothing will go wrong. Just forget about what I said. Now, close your eyes, hold your hand out and turn your head away slightly. He or she will do the rest," Hiccup instructed gently.

"It's a she," Astrid informed them. "If it was a he, it would be busy taking care of the baby dragons back there."

"Good to know, Astrid. Now, how will I know if it worked, Hiccup?"

"When it pushes its head into your hand. Now, just do what I told you. I won't go anywhere."

Yang and Hiccup were standing in a clearing on Defender of the Wing island. Astrid was standing behind them, watching the scene unfold, with the islands' volcano far off in the distance behind them.

In addition to the humans present, the island was filled with many dragons, with Valka and Gobber busy assisting out Mala and Throk, both being absent for that reason.

Occasionally, a dragon would fly past overhead, aiming to see what was going on, just like the dragons on the ground, who were also watching the scene.

Meanwhile, Toothless and Stormfly were both being swarmed by the bravest of the baby dragons from the flock present on the island, each baby lacking the caution that prevented their older counterparts from investigating the newcomers more closely.

Now standing with her eyes closed, Yang heard the padding of something large and heavy making its way to her.

Guessing it was the dragon, she expected to feel the burning sensation of the Monstrous Nightmare's fiery breath spreading across her outstretched hand at any moment, not unlike how her hair felt when her semblance was active but much worse.

But it never came, instead, she felt a huff of warm air wash over her right palm, then the feeling of something warm, moist and scaly nudge against her hand.

Opening her eyes, Yang could only stare into the dragon's amber eyes as its snout rumbled against her palm, the deep noise bordering just above a purr, and almost giving off the impression that the creature was more akin to a large cat, than a reptile.

Albeit a cat that could fly and breathe fire.

"Congratulations. You managed to pacify a dragon. Now, what are you going to call her? It's the last step before you both bond with each other."

"Bond? Just like that? For good?"

"More or less. Think of this as you becoming friends. But for life."

"I don't think I can name a dragon."

"Yang, I named a dragon because he had retractable teeth, and I thought for a moment he had lost them," Hiccup deadpanned. "I'm sure you can do it. It's not exactly a high bar. But if you have problems coming up with a name, go ask Astrid. She's got more of a knack for names than I do."

"I'll say. Isn't that right, Stormfly?" Interjected Astrid.

"Milady, I was complimenting you. Don't make me retract it," he warned with mock seriousness.

"They be fighting words, babe," she smirked. "Careful now."

"Get a room you two," muttered Yang.

"Don't tempt her, Yang. She needs no encouragement, walking around and being as irresistible as she is."

"What, are you going to tell me she walks around without underwear or something equally crazy?" Yang asked teasingly.

"Yeah, crazy…" muttered Hiccup before glancing at Astrid.

"Wow, you really want him, don't you Astrid?" muttered Yang.

"Yep," was the reply Yang got before a huff of warm air reminded her of the dragon that was pressed against her right hand. "Well then girl, if we're to be friends, I think I'll call you… Ying."

"I stand corrected. You can't reach the bar, and nothing you can say will convince me otherwise," Hiccup muttered dryly.

"Agreed," added Astrid.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Yang shrugged. "I'm sticking with the name anyways."

Then the beating of wings became audible and the three of them looked up, a few seconds before Cloudjumper landed before them, Valka and Gobber on his back. "Alright. Next stop, Berk. It's been agreed by Throk and Mala that we should move the dragons there since they can't afford to feed all these dragons, forever." said Valka.

"Alright then. When do we leave?" Asked Astrid.

"As soon as we're ready," was the reply.

"So you're leaving again, son?"

The sky was cast a deep orange, and father and son were standing on the cliff overlooking Berk's dock and the sea beyond.

"For some time, yeah. But, I'll be back."

"I'll miss you."

"Yeah, me too."

Stoick turned to look at Hiccup. "You grew up, and I wasn't there to see it," he quietly murmured. Louder, he continued. "Have you thought of any names?"

"Names?" Hiccup questioned, looking his way.

"For the little one that is on the way."

"Oh. Astrid told me she has a few ideas, but she hasn't said what exactly."

"You're going to have your hands full soon son. Just like I do no, with all those dragons you brought."

"…Did you just compare taking care of a baby to taking care of dragons?" Hiccup asked, raising an eyebrow at Stoick.

"Yes. They're equally irritating. Actually no. I'd take a raid over a screaming child any day. One of those actually stops. Good luck son."

"Thanks," Hiccup replied dryly. "So is Viggo going to stay in prison? Because if he manages to escape, he'll cause issues with all the dragons around, I'm sure."

"You raise a good point, but where are you going with it?"

"I'm thinking it would be best that I take him back with us when my friends leave. He'll have no way of causing trouble here, then."

"Very well. I'll hand him over to you. But I expect you and the lass to visit when your son or daughter is born."

"I wouldn't have it any other way, dad."

Viggo's head snapped up when he heard his cell door being opened by the guard stationed there.

Then the guard entered his cell. "It's your lucky day today. You're getting some time outside these walls."

"Lucky me indeed," Viggo returned as Hoark undid the chains around his arms and legs. Then he stood up as the chains clattered against the stone floor. "Where am I going now? I wasn't aware there were many other prisons around here."

"You would be correct in that," said a new voice, just before the speaker came into view. "Follow me," said Hiccup. "You are now in the custody of Vale. It's going to be your new home."

Viggo did as he was told, following Hiccup through the dungeon and outside, finding the moon and stars were out, and a blond man stood out in the open.

But Viggo's attention was soon absorbed by the red and black circle that appeared out of thin air, concealing the man from view.

"So this is him, huh? The newest prisoner of Vale?" A voice spoke, prompting Viggo to turn around and pick out a woman with black hair, red eyes and a large sheath and sword on one hip, leaning against the outer wall of the dungeon, beside the exit he and Hiccup had just passed through.

"Yes, Raven," muttered Hiccup. "Raven, Viggo. Viggo, Raven. Meet another prisoner of Vale, Viggo."

"Greetings," Viggo said curtly, then he looked at the portal again, ignoring Raven entirely. "What is that?"

"Your passage to Vale, in a manner of speaking," Taiyang said, at last, stepping around the portal as he spoke. "Come now Raven, Hiccup. Best not to keep the others waiting."

"Yeah, that's a good idea," Hiccup agreed. Then he turned and looked at Viggo, before gesturing at the portal. "After you."

Viggo eyed the portal uncertainly, before starting to approach it. He reached out slowly, intending to touch it, but was instead transported to Vale.

"Right, I'll see you two later then," muttered Hiccup, before following after Viggo.

Two days later

It was a warm and sunny day in Mistral as everyone stood watching the giant stone statue of Pyrrha.

The statue was built in the middle of two more stone statues, standing shoulder to shoulder with them, one resembling the form of Glynda Goodwitch, and the other of Blake Belladonna, with all three of the statues standing proudly in the rear courtyard of Haven Academy.

"Well, this is kinda depressing. Nice, but depressing," muttered Jaune, and the others couldn't help but agree, as they were thinking the same thing.

"Yeah, thank you for summing that up," replied Hiccup, gazing at Glynda's statue. Then he turned away from it, now facing Oobleck, who was standing behind a camera on a tripod. "Is everyone ready to do this video thing?"

"Yeah, let's get this thing done," muttered Weiss.

"Alright, well I'd like to say one thing before we get started," cut in Astrid. "As you all know by now, I'm pregnant."

"Yeah, if you weren't before, you certainly would be since you got it on a few days ago, lass," quipped Gobber.

"Yeah, and over the time since I've been thinking about some names. Then last night I told Hiccup about them, and he agreed. So, if it's a boy, we'll go with Asger Ingrid Finn Haddock, named after my parents and uncle Finn. And if it's a girl, we'll go with just Ingrid Haddock. Now, that is all. Carry on."

And so Oobleck pressed the record button, and Weiss started to speak.

One afternoon two days after that, Hiccup and Ruby stood in a large warehouse, newly built, with the snowflake logo of the SDC high up on the wall that faced them, holding a blueprint between them.

"There's no way we can build something like this, right?" Questioned Ruby.

"Sure we can, Ruby. The hardest bit will be making it hover, but Atlas is proof that it's possible, so it can obviously be done. Not to mention, we have those hoverbikes over there that Weiss managed to acquire and send us. We can use that to figure out how this thing will work.

"You're right, Hiccup. I guess I'm just feeling a bit nervous. I don't want to break it."

"Well on the off chance that you do break it, just tell Weiss it was me. Wouldn't be the first time I broke something in a forge after all."

"Really? You'd do that? Weiss will chew you out."

"She's got nothing on my Dad. I'll live."

"Okay. Let's get started then."

The pair carefully pinned the blueprint to a blank section of wall below the blue snowflake, then stepped back to look at it before getting to work.

The blueprint bore the words, 'Hover Airship' along the top edge, and if they could build it, it would be the first gravity dust assisted airship not built by Atlas that could - theoretically speaking - hover indefinitely.

A new age was dawning for Vale, and it was being brought about by the only two left-handed individuals in their group of close friends.

Truly, their world was changing.

Not bad for a one-legged Viking huntsman and a sixteen-year-old redhead, eh? Hiccup idly thought.

"Did I mention that I want to be the head bridesmaid at your wedding?"

"Not until just now. What about Yang then?"

"She can be the favourite auntie," Ruby shrugged.

"What brought this on?"

"Just a random thought I had just now."

"Alright. Well, I'll tell Astrid. She has the final say of course."

"Okay. So here goes our first attempt at reverse-engineering the hover technology on those hoverbikes, before we somehow make an airship that can hover with that same tech. Oum help us."

"I'm sure we'll be fine. Especially when Junior finally decides to make an appearance."

Ruby exhaled through her nose. "Guess we should disassemble those hoverbikes first then. Let's get started on that now."

"Agreed. After you, Ruby."

A/N: Wasn't sure how to end things, so there we go I guess.

Now, I'm going to go and plan a wedding, and life after that for this group, then I can wrap this thing up.

Goodbye for now.

Silvolde.