Author's Note: All previous warnings apply plus major character death (for real this time).
Happy halloween everyone! As you can tell this is the fourth installment in this halloween series of mine, but it's my sad but nescessary place to tell you that this is the last part of the When Hiccup Died story. We've had a wonderful run but unfortunately it's just time to let it go. The ending of The Hidden World essentially blocked off any new potential stories with these characters, so it's time to wrap it up and continue on with fresher tales in greener pastures. It's been so much fun writing witty little Hiccup with detachable limbs and horrible trauma, these last four years will be irreplaceable to me. If you want to try your hand at a Zombie!Hiccup AU of your own, please feel free to do so as long as you do not use When Hiccup Died as reference. I have full faith that you will be able to create your own wonderful and unique stories without relying on my work as a crutch. Now without further ado...
Thank you all so much for reading When Hiccup Died. On with the show.
The night was warm and misty, wet fog rolling over the still, cold ocean. A dragon trapping ship, bringing in her haul, floated along easily. One of her crew stalked the deck, lurking between the cages and silencing the contents when the dragons forgot that they were helpless.
Clunk... Clunk... Clunk... Clunk... Clunk...
Someone else was on deck. Someone who didn't belong.
"Who goes there?! Reveal yourself!" The crew member shouted into the dark.
So he did.
Clunk... Clunk... Clunk...
"What the- Who, no, what are you?! Stay back!" Bright lantern light washed over his suited body, small and strangely shadowed.
Clunk.
He entered full view.
"D-demon child!" The man gasped.
"Hey, i'm twenty one!" The 'demon child' spoke indignantly, waving an arm outward.
The arm fell off, onto the deck. Oops.
The man screamed, dropping his lantern. It shattered, flame and lantern oil blooming forth.
He reached for his arm, grabbing it and snapping it back on before the fire could sear the exposed matter his suit couldn't cover. The rest of the fire was no concern.
"Demon! Get away!"
"Hey, hey, not a demon, i'm just here for the dragons, not you, so..."
Toothless warbled a warning from behind, right as Hookfang landed behind the trapper, fully flamed up with Snotlout on his back. Spreading even more fire. Fantastic.
"Haha, yeah! How's that for an entr-aaANCE!" Snotlout shouted as his suit caught on fire.
"More demons! What does that one do, control flames?!" The trapper hyperventilated.
"Not demons! He's just an idiot. Who forgot to fireproof his butt." He clarified, only to get pulled under Toothless' wing. "Oh no."
"No, not yet-!" Snotlout called up, not fast enough as Barf and Belch set off an explosion, ushering in Tuffnut and Ruffnut.
"Behold! Your worst nightmare!"
"Behold!"
"And his sister, who insisted on coming."
"Really? That's my intro?"
"Oh come on guys, you were too early again-!" Toothless couldn't yank him away from danger this time, as Fishlegs fell to the deck back-first, knocking him down. His head rolled off his shoulders. His dragon was torn between chasing after it or protecting the rest of his riders fragile, fragile body. He pushed them both away, catching up to his head and reattaching it, even if it was a little backwards. "Fishlegs! What did I say about the baby?! This is a raid."
"I couldn't find a sitter!"
"We couldn't find a sitter for Hiccup either." Ruffnut justified.
"I thought that's what Astrid was for." Tuffnut interjected, elbowing his sister.
Speaking of. Astrid leapt out from behind one of the cages on deck, slamming the trapper's head against it. He winced as the man dropped to the ground, probably concussed. Ouch.
"I had him right where I wanted him."
"And now, he's right where I wanted him." She straightened his head "There. Now let's go."
"Alright, this is fine, we screwed that up, but at least nobody else knows we're!-" A war cry, followed by the rest of the ships crew in an unyielding stampede. "Great. Get the dragons, get the dragons!" He shouted, urging his own team along.
His name was Hiccup. He died six years ago. Long story, didn't make a lot of sense, but he wasn't exactly complaining about the chance to actually do some good.
It'd just be a lot nicer if he was alive for it, probably.
Eh, there'd be time to get existential later, caged dragons now.
Last time he tried opening the heavy cages, he had both forearms yanked off in a spectacular embarrasing fashion, so it was his friends opening cages and freeing dragons while Toothless covered him while he did headcounting.
"Scuttleclaw, crimson goregutter, terrible terror terrible terror terrible terror, wow thats a lot of terrors, whatever that one is, hey, somebody free those deadly nadders!" He directed over the commotion, Toothless stopping in front of an empty cage to fire shots at the deck, creating fire walls to block the trappers' advance. "Nice one, bud."
Something grumbled, long and low. Like a dragon.
"Was that you?" Hiccup asked Toothless, whose ear flaps were perked and swiveling. The ' That wasn't me... Weird.' Went unsaid. "Guess not..." He looked aound. The cages on this side of the deck were all empty, completely so. Toothless glanced up at him. "Must've been one of the small ones hiding. Let's go, we're done here." A click of metal stirrups and Toothless took to the air. A handwave to Astrid and his mother- why were you just sitting there when you could help- and the rest of them were saddled up and leading the freed dragons to sanctuary.
Even after a successful run freeing dragons, Hiccup's bad luck had a way of following him. It started with getting the new dragons settled in, which started all fine and good, until a distraction in the form of Valka's... Well intentioned mentioning of their performance led to him being too preoccupied to notice the freshly-rescued crimson goregutter making dominoes out of Berk's buildings. No major injuries, thank Thor, but of course in the continuous falling dominoes of his life, this led to him getting an earful from Gobber. An earful he continued to get in the great hall, a place he really didn't feel the need to be in considering oh yeah he doesn't need to eat.
"You can't keep bringing dragons here, we haven't got the space!" Gobber finally paused in his ranting.
"We've tried to get them to move into the forests and mountain, but they just won't stay! They want to be near Toothless." Hiccup justified, pulling his wrappings tighter to save himself the embarrasment of losing anything in the stop-and-go traffic.
"It isn't as safe here for them. Those trappers are getting closer by the day, and with all these dragons we've got a target painted on our backs." Gobber enunciated with a accusatory wave of his wooden hand.
"Right, right, you're right, but we can't keep them safe anywhere else! What do we do, just let them go and get recaptured?" Hiccup dodged to the side as a group of vikings and a dragon made their way past, almost trampling him.
"Of course not, but-"
"Gobber." Hiccup pulled his arm off, using it to grab his mentor by the shoulder without needing to jump on a table. "We made dragon-viking utopia. The dream's a reality!"
"Your dream maybe. Mine's a lot less crowded. There's more important things to be thinking of, anyway." The old blacksmith sighed.
"Such as?" Hiccup raised an eyebrow, snapping his arm back into his shoulder.
"You settling down. Being a chief! I understand you think you're unkillable, Hiccup, but the rest of us only get one shot at this." Gobber pulled him along, forcing him to sit.
"I am being a chief! I'm just doing it my way." Hiccup leaned to the side, dodging a thrown fish caught by a passing zippleback's head just behind him. "My dad was out all the time too, looking for the red death's nest."
"Yes, but that was for his people. Vikings, Hiccup. You can only do so much for these dragons, but people need you here as well."
"You say that now, but everyone seems to be getting along just fine without me." Hiccup grumbled.
"Because you haven't been around in the first place! How do you expect anyone to respect you and listen to you when you've never proven yourself to 'em?"
"Kinda hard to respect the guy that's been fifteen for six years."
"Eh, maybe. But that's why you've got to get started, lad! Take Toothless for example." Gobber gestured to the night fury, still caught in foot traffic. With a short roar the crowd parted for him, letting him smugly prance right up to Hiccup, heads bowing all the way. "The dragons respect him because he earned it."
"I helped." Toothless sat down so close he was practically on top of him.
"But you're not a dragon."
"Not human anymore either." Hiccup crossed his arms over the table, slouching over them. Gobber looked like he was about to say more, but stopped, only shaking his head.
"Alright lad, I won't talk at you any longer. Just think about what i've said, aye? One day you'll pick a fight that you can't win."
"Yeah, sure thing. Thanks Gobber." Hiccup wheezed, his lungs rattling. Toothless chirped sadly, wrapping his rider in a wing, hiding the small undead from view.
The sky was that kind of greyish blue that made you unsure of if it was the sky you were looking at or just one really big cloud.
It fit Hiccup's mood. That might not be a good thing. He was sitting on a cliff that meant a lot to him, it was where his father used to take him when he was small.
Small-er.
"Too bad you couldn't come back too, huh dad?" Hiccup spoke under his breath. It came more from his chest, making what was left of his lungs shake a little. "Then I wouldn't have to do all this... Chief-ing business." Toothless crooned, wrapping the whole of his big scaly body around him. He hugged back.
"You can't hide from 'chief-ing' forever." Astrid called out to him, Stormfly landing gracefully to let her rider off. "Or Gobber, for that matter."
"I can try." He mumbled, muffled by black scales.
"He's right you know. Berk doesn't deserve having all these dragon hunters after us. The people and the dragons." She tried pushing Toothless away to get at the zombie underneath him, to no avail. Hiccup pulled on his wrist, detaching his hand and making it crawl over the night fury, scratching him in the hard to reach spot inbetween his wingblades. "Ugh." Astrid grunted in disgust, sitting next to him a little farther away than strictly nescessary. Stormfly pushed inbetween Hiccup and Toothless, trying to get in on the quality scratches. Using his teeth, he removed his other hand, setting it to work on the nadder. "I am not helping you put those back on." Astrid hissed, turning a little green.
"Aw come on Astrid, you wouldn't lend your chief a hand? Ouch." Hiccup grinned cheekily, earning himself a firm punch in the side. "Oh, pain, actual ouch."
"Be serious!" Astrid demanded between giggles.
"It does seem like the whole world knows about us now." Hiccup admitted.
"I just wish there was a way to make them leave us alone." Astrid groaned.
"...There might be." Hiccup gestured over the blue ocean on the horizon with his handless bony stumps. "My dad used to talk about an old mariners' myth. Of a secret land at the edge of the world, where dragons lived totally out of reach."
"Well... Sailors are known for their tall tales." Astrid pointed out, carefully moving her gaze away from his arms.
"True. But what if it's real? It could be the answer to all our problems!"
"How? By moving all the dragons there?" Astrid questioned, raising an eyebrow.
"That... And... Maybemetoo." Hiccup shrunk in on himself as he quickly spoke.
"Oh Hiccup, no!" Astrid gasped, sitting upright. "We need you here! Berk needs its chief."
"I never wanted to be chief, 'Strid." Hiccup mumbled into his knees. "I... Always thought that you'd be much better at it than me. Even before I... You know."
"Hiccup. You've already done so many great things. Sure you've always been a little strange, and now, you're, um... Yeah, but this is the home your father left you to protect!" Astrid leaned in close to brush his thin, brittle hair out of his face. "And I know you can do that. With a real solution that doesn't include running away and hiding for Thor-knows-how-long." Hiccup only sighed, staring through her.
Toothless chirped suddenly, sniffing the air. Hiccup had his hand hold on for dear un-life as the night fury sped off into the forest.
"Hey, bud, where are you going?! Aaand he's gone. With my hand." Hiccup groaned longsufferingly, recalling his other hand from Stormfly and pushing it back into place from the ground.
"Here, we'll help you go after him." Astrid helped him up, brushing her hand off on her skirt. They mounted Stormfly and she sped off after Toothless like a dart.
He wasn't hard to find, even in the dark forest. After all, he had a bright red tailfin and gangrenous hand attached. He was staring at a dragon white as winter ice, a dragon that looked so much like him but also nothing like him at all. She, it looked like a she, was snarling at the hand clamped down on the arm of his wing, much to Toothless' confusion. Stormfly landed quietly, and Hiccup staggered forwards, accidentally snapping a particularly crunchy twig. She glared at him, noticing the hand on the night fury belonged to him and growling even harder.
"Oh my gods." He gasped. Really, a white night fury! Holy mother of Odin's ghost!
"Uh, Hiccup?" Astrid lowered her stance.
She fired at him, a blue-hot shot of plasma. Astrid tackled him out of the way. Toothless barked in alarm, more surprised than mad.
"Yeah! What he said!" Hiccup popped out of the underbrush. "We're friends! No need to kill the human! And, uh, the not-human."
She snarled again, jumping into the air and flying off. Toothless tried to follow, leaping through tree branches, but in a literal flash she was gone.
"Another night fury..." Astrid gasped. "Another night fury!"
"No, not quite..." Hiccup moved to console Toothless and retrieve his hand. "More like a... Bright fury."
"A light fury."
"Now who's making bad jokes?"
It was a glorious chaos when they got back, talking, recounting, getting slobbered on-
That last part was a bit concerning considering that Toothless was a reptile, but maybe he could excuse that just this once because wow. New dragon. New dragon that looked a lot like old dragon. Which meant possibly more old dragon! Er, night furies.
"And then she just vanished into thin air!" Hiccup gesticulated wildly, almost losing his hand if it wasn't caught by Fishlegs' open sketch of the dragon in question. "Whoops. Nice save."
"No problem." The much larger young adult passed back the lost appendage. "So how does this look?" Hiccup squinted over the picture, pointing out percieved flaws.
"Uh-huh, right, uh, the ears were stubbier, and she didn't have dorsal plates." He scratched absentmindedly at a bandage. "She was... Really smooth actually. kind of like a fish?" Toothless smacked him roughly on his back, rattling his bones. "Okay okay! I'm sorry I said she looks like a fish!"
"Attaboy, Toothless, defend your girlfriend's honor!" Astrid chuckled at the night fury.
"Wait, woah woah, slow down.Girlfriend?" Hiccup interjected. "They met eachother once!"
"Oh, Hiccup Hiccup Hiccup." Tuffnut clicked his tongue, shaking his head slowly.
"That may be the way we silly humans take care of our relations, but for dragons..." Ruffnut butted in, eyelids lowered dreamily. "It's much more... Primal."
"Ew." Hiccup cringed. Toothless was busy crooning at his own shadow.
"I've heard love makes you stupid, but that's just sad." Snotlout groaned.
"Yeah, that's just... Weird. Even for me." Tuffnut agreed with him.
"Yeah, no. Hiccup, control your drool well. It's leaking." Ruffnut gagged.
"I'd rather shovel poop all day than watch that." Snotlout tacked on.
"Alright, that's enough, thank you. We can go back into the woods and find her again-!" Hiccup was bowled over by Toothless tackling him, overjoyed at the mere thought. His head snapped off, caught by Tuffnut.
"Perfect! let's go." The blonde turned about-face, marching out of the great hall content to just hold Hiccup's head captive.
"Hey, wait, no, put me back on my body please!"
"Not to worry, Hiccy-boy, you're in good hands. My hands! Besides, we're long overdue for some boy talk." Tuffnut prattled on.
"And why can't we do this when I have legs?!"
"Can't have you running away."
Hiccup did wind up shoving Toothless off and manouvering his body back to him, but Tiffnut was making him want to rip his ears off and lose them off a tall cliff.
Not that doing that would work, he's tried, but the thought was still there as he was yanked through the forest, doing a lot of not looking for the light fury. You know, the thing they had initially set off to do.
"Now Hiccup, there's going to come a day soon when you'll have to man up. Take life by the reigns! Sure you might be a bit of a late bloomer, but there's no shame in that. I mean really, Astrid isn't getting any younger!" Tuffnut towered over Hiccup, leaning over him in an annoying exaggerated fashion.
"Neither am I?" The zombie questioned.
"Precicely. It's a bit cruel of you to lead her on for so long, but I understand that you thought your arrangement would suffice." Tuffnut suddenly grabbed Hiccup's face, squishing his cheeks. "You thought wrong."
"Thought, what- arrangement? What are you even talking about?!" Hiccup slapped away the tall man, internally debating ditching him and going back. He wouldn't get any help, though, Toothless was running around desperately sniffing the air. He wasn't coming back any time soon.
"I'm just saying, she's a grown woman with needs of her own."
"What do you mean?!"
"Hm, well. On second thought, you'll understand when you're older."
"I'm older than you by three months!" Hiccup shouted as they made their way into the same clearing as before. Toothless warbled sadly, not a sign nor scale of the white dragon anywhere.
Except for something glinting on the ground. Hiccup kneeled, taking it up in his hands. it was some form of clear dart, dripping vagely purple fluid onto the dirt from a needle-thin metal protusion at its end.
"Hey! Woah there, champ, you can't just go around picking up sharp dangerous objects in the woods!" Tuffnut objected, moving to snatch the thing up in his very much unprotected hands. Toothless groaned, padding dejectedly back to Hiccup.
"It's... A poison. Wait, Toothless!" Hiccup shouted, staggering to his feet. His dragon paused, wide eyed. "Don't. Move. Please." Hiccup enunciated, snatching a stick Tuffnut had picked up somewhere along the way and chucking it at the dirt. It snapped a tripwire, triggering a trap mere inches away from them. Hiccup fell backwards from the aftershock, Toothless growling from the scare.
"Yikes. You know, maybe we should leave." Tuffnut yelped.
For once, Hiccup couldn't agree more.
"Someone made it onto the island. They're laying traps." Hiccup barged into the smithy, eyes blazing.
"It ruined boy talk!" Tuffnut exclaimed, haphazardly throwing the dart into a box Eret was carrying. His aim would have been impressive if he was... Actually aiming.
"Hey!"
"Yes, right, ruined, sorry Eret, now we need to get scouts out immediately." Hiccup sped through his words, jaw clacking.
"Let me at 'em!" Gobber declared, already moving to switch out his wooden hand for something more punching-centric.
"We need to find them first. We need a search team for the ground, scouts in the air. Toothless and I will scan the coastline." Hiccup nodded. Toothless grunted affirmatively, flapping his wings.
"I wouldn't advise taking Toothless anywhere, chief." Eret stopped him short, inspecting the dart. "I know this handiwork. Grimmel the Grisly, famous back where i'm from. Smartest dragon hunter I ever met... Next to me of course.
Toothless gurgled lowly at him. "Don't be proud of that."
"Smart enough to leave his trap unmanned?" Hiccup raised an eyebrow. Eret sucked a breath in through his teeth, passing the dart off to Astrid.
"Nothing's accidental when it comes to old Grimmel. He lives for the hunt, to get inside the mind of his prey, to control its every choice. It's all a game to him." The ex-hunter elaborated.
"Well he doesn't know who he's playing with." Astrid clacked the pointy end of the dart against a shield hung on the smithy wall.
"Or what." Hiccup tightened his bandages.
"Don't underestimate him Hiccup. Mark my words, he'll be back." Eret warned.
And back Grimmel came. It was in the dead of night no less, when Hiccup was not looking for a way to run away and take the dragons with him, no sir.
Grimmel was an ancient man by the looks of it, and audacious to boot, not even flinching as Hiccup drew his weapon. Not even waiting to shoot at "Toothless", not even hesitating to destroy his house. Destroying everything, all of Berk.
So, there they were. In the great hall in the dead of night, with an undead at the helm.
This was bad.
"Hey, alright, settle down please, everybody! I've got something to- Oh for Hel's sake." Hiccup attempted to control the crowd. Emphasis on attempt. "Toothless, you mind?" Toothless did not in fact mind, roaring loud enough to shake the walls. And Hiccup's bones. He leaned on the night fury to steady himself. "Yes. Thank you."
Toothless chirped. "No problem."
"Right. Right. Everyone. We've had... Quite the night. Grimmel is a sign of the times. Our enemies are getting smarter, more determined. We're not just overcrowded. We're exposed, and vulnerable, short of full-blown war and risking everything we love, and...!" Hiccup paused, breathing despite not needing to. "And, and I... Have a confession to make. I was looking for a solution that would solve my problems. Not Berk's problems. I was looking for the Hidden World."
"That old legend?!" Someone in the throngs of vikings scoffed.
"What's he talking about?" Someone else questioned the guy next to him. His buddy shrugged.
"Is he nuts?" A young woman rolled her eyes.
"Oh, Hiccup." Astrid held her face in her hand.
"I'm not done yet. I was going to take all the dragons there, and close them all off because I'm! Well, i'm different! But I've realized something!" Hiccup stood taller, spoke louder, grabbing attention. "We're all different! We're dragon people! We belong with them, in there. In the Hidden World."
All of the eyes in the hall were on him. People were listening.
"Berk is more than just this one island. Berk is it's people. It's dragons. It's spirit! Berk is wherever we go!" He declared, Toothless finalizing it by sweeping up underneath him into the saddle. There they stood, over a waiting crowd.
"I'm with him. Who else?" Tuffnut spoke, enthused.
And in the great hall, Berk roared.
They flew over the ocean, passing by dozens of islands. Hours and hours of endless blue. They were only as fast as the slowest dragon, after all. Time was passed by searching, almost desperately, for any sign of what might be their salvation. For the Hidden World.
What they found was the light fury, for all of five minutes. She had seemingly been following the crowd, only to vanish again. Toothless bolted to where she had been, twisting every which way to find her, almost bucking Hiccup off. Which was how Hiccup saw her first.
"Toothless, behind us!" He whispered, smiling as Toothless spun around to look right at her. "Look who it is!" He grinned. Toothless warbled his own joyous greeting.
And she repaid it by nearly getting them both killed. Or Toothless, in any case. A little hard to die twice.
She had torn Hiccup off off the saddle, disconnecting quite a few parts of him. Toothless, left with no choice but to either glide until he passed out or get his rider back, dived after Hiccup, landing the both of them onto one of the carried ships. Hiccup groaned as he pulled himself back together, piecing together his abused limbs one by one. Toothless looked to the sky. She was gone.
They had stopped for a break. Just to make camp for a night and then keep moving. Yet everyone was acting like this was more than just a pit stop.
"No, guys wait- We aren't building, stop, we- Am I being ignored?! Stop thinking about- I said make camp!" He began shouting. "Not 'build a new village'!" He huffed, pulling at the wraps around his neck in building frustration. Snotlout scoffed at him.
"Who died and made you chief?"
Hiccup saw red.
In one swift movement he snapped his own neck and held his head up to his cousin's eye level.
"Say that again. Ask me." He growled, his voice disjointed and haunting. "Look me in the eyes. I'll tell you who died." He didn't care if he was scaring anyone. "I did."
Someone gasped, and Hiccup was all-too-suddenly aware that there was a crowd. A big one.
They looked scared.
Snotlout looked scared.
Toothless looked scared.
"Wait. Wait no, no, no, I-" He put his head back on, not looking at anyone. "I need to go."
He ran into the woods. With a shocked warble, Toothless bounded after him.
"What did I do." Hiccup moaned into his arms, crouched into a ball under a tree by the island's bay, wrapped in Toothless' scaly body. Tearless, breathless not-sobs shook him down to his bones. "What have I done? Did you see the way they- and, and you, oh Toothless i'm so sorry." Toothless crooned to him gently as he rambled in horror of his own self. "I didn't even know I could do that. I didn't know." He lifted his sunken-in face to meet Toothless' eye. "Did you know?"
Toothless gurgled, shaking his head rapidly. "Nope. Not at all."
"Of course not, I'm sorry that question was stupid." He curled back up again, turning away. "I'm stupid. I never should have brought all those dragons back to Berk, I never should have let you be controlled, I never should have gone back with Astrid. I never should have shot you down. None of this would have happened if you weren't stuck with me." Toothless gasped, a sad, shocked sound. He nuzzled the zombie in his grasp, pulling him tighter and closer. "This is all my fault." He uncurled himself, staring at his body. Staring at his hands.
He unrwapped one.
His skin was disintegrating. The muscles were thinning. Bone was peeking out in spots.
He rewrapped it fast.
"I'm a monster." He rasped, head low.
Snap!
He whipped his head up at the sound of splitting branches. When had it gotten so dark? Something was there. Toothless stood up, covering Hiccup entirely. He growled dangerously, head whipping left and right to find the percieved danger.
Snap! And a growl. A familiar one.
From the forest the light fury snaked forth, growling and spitting at the undead underneath the night fury. Toothless stopped growling, but didn't uncover him. The light fury mumbled to Toothless, angrily. Suddenly Toothless was angrier, snarling and kicking sand.
"Toothless, stop, no, you likeher!" Hiccup crawled out from underneath his night fury prison, backing away. "What'd she say?!"
She barked at him. Toothless barked back at her.
"...It was about me." He sighed. "I'll go. I'll leave. You two can- Oof!" Toothless tripped him with his tail, weaving behind him. He was trapped here. With one fury that wanted him deader than he already was, and one that he hurt horribly.
This didn't bode well. The light fury gargled, confused and wary but not furious anymore. Toothless perked up, nudging Hiccup to his feet. The light fury turned tail with a chirp, watching them cautiously as she sauntered down the beach, making herself comfortable. She paid particular attention to Toothless, watching him expectantly. He and Hiccup traded glances.
"What does she want you to do?" Hiccup whispered.
Toothless made a noncommital grunt. "No idea."
"Uh, what impresses girls? Does she... Wait I've got it!" Hiccup formed a fist. "She's testing you! I think! You've gotta prove yourself to her!" Toothless got excited, glowing blue softly before shooting a few hot purple plasma blasts at a rotting tree, burning away at beanches until they fell to the sand in a smouldering heap of bright color.
The light fury yawned. Oh.
"Try something else?" Hiccup offered. "Prove you'd be a good provider!" Toothless perked up, enthusiastically jumping into the water. In moments he popped back out with a huge splash of water, soaking the light fury. She grumbled in annoyance at him, but sofened a bit when he puked up a mouthful of raw fish. He nudged one toward her, still flopping. She ate it. Hiccup gave Toothless a thumbs up.
"Lookin good, buddy!" He stage whispered. A little too loudly for the light fury's liking, as she turned to glare at him, sticking her snout up. "Oops, sorry." He shrunk back, hiding himself in the bushes. That seemed to please her well enough and she turned back to Toothless with a demure little smile and nod. Toothless faltered a bit at that, growing unsure, but the light fury leaned in close and he melted, mumbling a bit dreamily. He snapped out of it quickly, not even needing Hiccup's help to get a new idea.
He bounded away from his fancy dinner and mood lighting, snapping a sizable branch off a tree and holding it in his mouth. To the confusion of both Hiccup and the light fury, he dashed about the sand, dragging the branch as he went, carving lines and smoothing parts over with his tail. It was a mad dance of his, curious enough to make the light fury stand and watch what he was doing.
"Is he...?" Hiccup questioned, leaning over the edge of the shrubbery. "He hasn't done that since...!" He grinned. "Go for it, Toothless." He whispered.
Toothless finished with a flourish, displaying his work proudly. The light fury didn't seem to get it though, nearly stepping on lines until Toothless growled at her, making her growl right back. Hiccup held his breath, however nonexistant it might be. A brief flash of recognition sparked across her face once she stood next to Toothless. He had drawn a light fury. He had drawn her. Just as he had drawn Hiccup all those years ago. Hiccup felt his chest cavity tighten as his grin widened. The light fury, done taking it in, turned away and flared her wings, looking back to Toothless over her shoulder expectantly. She hopped into the air twisting into the clouds before Toothless could articulate he couldn't follow her alone.
But he wasn't going to be alone. Not if Hiccup could help it. He stumbled out of the bushes, running to his best friend and climbing into the saddle.
"She isn't getting away this time! After her, Toothless!" He shouted, determined as he engaged Toothless' tail fin. He didn't have to tell him twice. They climbed upwards, into the endless night above.
She had been waiting for him up there, but when she saw Hiccup on his back she froze, growling in confusion. Toothless growled back, albeit more playfully.
"Looks like she needs convincing. Wanna show off?" Hiccup commented, only to have to hold on for dear unlife as Toothless dipped into a corkscrew. "You're right, stupid question!" He laughed.
Together, in the sky, they danced. They hadn't gotten to fly alone together, fly for fun in weeks. Maybe months. With each dip and turn it was easy to forget they had company, until she joined in.
"Now we're talking!" Hiccup whooped. The light fury glared at him, but didn't leave. That was the best he was going to get from her. The three of them twisted and spun over the open ocean, not even stopping once the sun started to climb.
In the distance, there was a roaring. The sound of a waterfall.
"In the middle of the ocean?" Hiccup thought aloud, as Toothless and the light fury glided and drifted blissfully. The light fury noticed him listening though, saw where his eyes lead, and began hissing. "Hey, what are you-?" She fired a plasma blast at him, Toothless barely rolling out of the way in time with a shocked warble. She flew off in the direction of the noise, vanishing herself. Toothless let out a long cry.
"There's sonething she doesn't want me to see over there." Hiccup deduced, brows furrowed. "We can still follow her. We can't let her get away." Toothless huffed, already on her trail. The roaring loudened, they were close.
The world dropped. Down, straight down, was a hole. A big hole.
"She went down there, didn't she." Hiccup groaned. Toothless clicked back. "Well, can't get any deader. Let's do this."
They went in. It was dark. Darker and darker with no end in sight until-
Glowing. There was no sunlight and the air felt stale and sticky, but everywhere Hiccup looked there was glow. Giant mushrooms- What were they decomposing?- Glowed. Crystals of every shape and size- What were they made of?- Glowed.
Dragons, dragons everywhere. Glowed. Toothless's blue thylacine peeked out from behind black scales.
The Hidden World.
They'd found it.
They were there.
Hiccup felt like crying.
"Toothless, we're... We're here. We made it." He wheezed. That tightening in his chest came back.
Toothless banked to the side, landing. Hiccup slid off, falling to his knees. Toothless nudged him, worried crooning tumbling from his mouth. Hiccup's shoulders were shaking.
"We, we, we did it. We're here. Toothless, we're-!" Hiccup wrapped his arms around Toothless' head. When had he gotten so big? He could barely reach around him now. He leaned against his best friend. He couldn't stand up. When had he gotten so tired? He hasn't felt like this since before he died. "I feel so alive." He whispered. Toothless whined, loudly, nudging him. He wanted him to stand up but that felt so hard... "Sit with me, bud?" Toothless did. One by one, dragons began showing up. Toothless wrapped himself over his boy, daring them all to try anything. They didn't.
the light fury flew up to them, shocked. She warbled at Toothless, questioning him. He didn't bother replying to her, he just flared his alpha glow. The dragons, especially the light fury, stepped back.
"-ccup? Hiccup?! Hiccup are you in here?!" Someone was calling for him. They sounded desperate. Toothless roared. The sound of wingbeats, then claws on the ground. Stormfly. And she brought Astrid. "Toothless?! Where's- Oh no, Hiccup! " Astrid gasped as she finally saw him.
"Astrid. It's real. Do you see it?" He smiled.
"Yes, Hiccup, you found the Hidden World." She breathed. "Have you been here, did you run here yesterday? We've all been worried sick looking for you, Snotlout is sorry, I made him sorry, just, please, Hiccup, look at me?!"
"You can get everyone. Bring them here. It's safe here."
"Hiccup, why won't you... You're not-!" There was something she wanted to say there, but she clearly couldn't even get the word out, paling at the mere thought.
"I found the Hidden World, 'Strid." He grinned. Toothless cried, a low long sound.
"No. No, you aren't, no. Hiccup, no. No, no no!" Astrid gasped for breath as she began tearing up.
"Do you remember what Fishlegs said? Six years ago?" Hiccup looked up at the glittering crystals. Toothless moved, wiggling himself around his body. He was comfortable.
"Six- you don't mean that you... Your 'unfinished business' was... This?" Astrid questioned, kneeling beside him. She picked him up, rearranging him so he was lying down with Toothless.
"It's the dragons. It's always been the dragons. And they can be safe here... I don't need to protect them anymore." He explained, suddenly understanding more than he ever thought he did. "And Berk. Berk can be here. You can live with them." Astrid choked back a sob.
"But. But Hiccup, you were supposed to live with them too." She whispered.
"'Strid. I'm not alive." He reached up to take her hand. She started crying.
"Hiccup. What about Grimmel. What about all the dragon hunters. A world without dragons is exactly what they want. Isn't just hiding here letting them win?" Astrid choked out between sobs.
"Maybe. But the dragons will be safe. Berk will be safe. You'll be safe." Hiccup smiled sadly, dropping his hand. She didn't let go. "That's all I want." She brushed his hair out of his face. Strands fell away at her touch. She stood.
"I'll do it. I'll bring everyone that wants to come down here. Everyone else will just have to live without us. I promise I won't let you down." She mounted Stormfly. "And... If this is goodbye... Then I love you."
"You could never let me down." He spoke, honestly. Stormfly chirped sadly to Toothless. He crooned back at her. They flew off, back the way they came.
The light fury came forward again.
She barked once at him. Toothless mumbled, before it turned to gurgling, and then he was roaring an entire speech without words, a speech Hiccup couldn't comprehend a word of yet understood entirely.
"He will always be my other half. Even when he's gone. I'm not leaving him now."
And even after that declaration of love, she didn't get it. She turned around and walked through the sea of dragons, enraptured by Toothless' loyalty.
They roared for him. They roared for Hiccup. They roared for the two of them, together.
They would learn to love the humans that were brave enough, strong enough, kind enough to come down. The dragons and humans would be together, united, for as long as either of them were around. Astrid would come back. She would bring everyone she could and then some. This place, this beautiful other world just next to their own, would be home for them.
"I feel so alive." Hiccup whispered. "Thank you Toothless. You're my best friend. I love you."