A/N: Okay, let's see if the format works properly this time! I have kept some of my favorite bits of dialogue of the third movie in here from time to time

"This is Berk," Hiccup's voice rang out to the newest rescues as he and Toothless led the group of new dragons over the island the following morning. "Your new home away from home! A stunning, one-styled, all expenses paid dream destination. So settle in and let your worries melt away!" Toothless did a barrel roll to show off as they passed under an arch and some of the dragons following him mimicked it. "The service here's sourced, cuisine's fiery, and the locals are as colorful as you get!"

Hiccup turned around to smile at the new dragons and pass his eyes over his home, allowing Toothless to soar through the guided tour of the Berkian airspace.

They had come so far.

The island was crowded with as many dragons as there were humans, all stacked on top of each other with sturdy wood and metal bunk-houses painted every imaginable color. The eye couldn't focus on what was a dragon's natural scale-tones and what was a bright house. Hiccup thought, the black scales of his Night Fury friend stuck out more now than they used to, with all these colors around. Toothless could never disappear as well on his home island as he could have five or ten years ago, when they'd first met.

The mountains were bustling with dragons, eggs, humans, sheep. Hiccup looked at it with pride, but remembered as soon as they touched down that the sentiment was not the same for all.

"More? Ye've brought more dragons back?" Gobber hobbled forward and shook his hand prosthetic in Hiccup's face. "Who told ye we had any more room than we had the last time you lot went on one of yer rescue missions?"

"We've been through this, Gobber," Hiccup pushed past him to get to the shop. Astrid followed him up kindly.

"We don't want to just let them go back to the wild; there are more trappers out there, and if we don't take them back here they'll just get caught again."

"They are safer here, Gobber," Valka agreed.

"Well, once they're safe everywhere else, we should think about tonin' down the adoption rate," he grumbled. "It's too crowded."

"But your business has never boomed more," Hiccup pointed out.

"I've actually had an idea about that, if the Chief will listen," Astrid said, catching up with Hiccup and hugging him from behind while the rest of their friends gathered around.

"If the Chief will listen," snickered Tuffnut.

"Come on, Astrid, we all know you run things around here more than he does," Ruffnut followed up.

Valka cuffed both of them on the back of the head.

"I'd love to hear it, Astrid," Hiccup said.

"Well," she said. "We know these recent trappers aren't using dragons, right? They're just catching them in traps, no Bewilderbeasts, no dragon assistance. At all."

"Right," Eret said, coming up to them from where Skullcrusher had landed, and Hiccup nodded.

"Sooo," Astrid said. "Where do we know that people can't find their own way to? What place do you need a dragon to get to?"

The twins looked at each other, pondering, and Fishlegs and Snotlout both looked to Hiccup for the answer. Eret just shrugged, and Valka and Gobber waited for Astrid to give them the answer.

She looked around, and no one replied, so she finished, "The original dragon nest island. The one where we fought the queen! It's still there, it's still hidden, and it's still habitable. Right? Now that she's gone, we have that whole area and we're not even using it!"

"How would we—what, would we all move there?" Hiccup asked.

"No, Hiccup, we'd have an outpost! It's not that far of a boat-ride away, even less far flying; we could build a little settlement there over the course of a couple of months! They get crops planted, they do some home-building, some terraforming, and we're in business. Another, bigger home for our dragons!"

"It seems kind of dangerous, Astrid. And it's a long-term commitment, and I'm not sure how many Vikings will want to go move and set up somewhere else."

"I'll do it!" Gobber volunteered eagerly. "Don't get me wrong, Hiccup, I love the dragons, but some peace and quiet on an abandoned island might be nice for a change from all…this." He gestured to the cluttered street and tussling dragons on tree-like pedestals.

"Plus, what's the other option, Hiccup?" Astrid shoved his arm. "We've moved everywhere on the island that we can without running out of trees for wood. If we get crops set up on the Old Nest, and houses, we can feed twice as many sheep, and the dragons will have twice as much space."

"Okay," Hiccup said. "There will be a lot of technicalities we'll have to deal with for this."

"That's perfect! You love technicalities!"

"Okay, yeah, yeah." Hiccup looked to the rest of the group. "No one mention this to anyone else; I want to have a full plan by the time we propose it in the town meeting. Okay?"

He was met with general nods and statements of agreement that he was sure meant that the rumor would spread as quickly as possible, and smirked before turning away to set about making some repairs to Toothless's tail.

—

Some time later, Hiccup and Astrid flew on Toothless and Stormfly to inspect the old Nest, entering the fog the way they had when they were teenagers. Toothless and Stormfly called to each other casually, chattering about something. Stormfly's crown of horns rattled and she guided them through the maze of harsh black stones and grey gradient without a trace of anticipation.

Hiccup had insisted that their other friends not come, for some reason, so without Ruffnut and Tuffnut the flight was quiet and comfortable. Astrid figured it was because Hiccup still liked his peace, even after all these years, but he had another mission in mind. And wasn't really sure how to go about realizing it.

They emerged to the island easily and without confrontation, bursting through the wall of fog into view of what was once the most sought-after dragon sanctuary the Vikings could have fathomed.

Toothless took the lead as Astrid and Hiccup looked over their dragons' shoulders to inspect the island. The vast majority of it was grey rock, sheer, rocky cliff sides and a flat beach of small stones.

"You sure we want to live here?" Hiccup called to his girlfriend. She shrugged.

"We could at least keep the hatcheries here," her voice rose over the wind. "The egg hatcheries and the hatchling houses take up a lot of space, Hiccup. And if we keep bringing back dragons, they'll only take up more."

"Wait—look!" Hiccup pointed at the side of the mountain, where a patch of green moss and grasses were growing up the side. Toothless vocalized surprise and they soared down to take a closer look, followed closely by Stormfly. The dragons hovered over it, peering down at the unexpected life. Toothless's head tilted curiously.

"It's healing!" Astrid exclaimed. "The island is healing!" She beamed at Hiccup, who couldn't help but return the smile. Then she spotted something else and pointed past him at the mountain. "And there, too!"

Hiccup and Toothless turned their heads as a unit to look at where she was indicating. Out of one of the tunnels that led into the center of the mountain, which had once glowed red in the night, poured some sparse leafy vines. Astrid nudged Stormfly up closer to it and Toothless flew after them, revealing the tunnel with moss and vines all on the inside too. As they flew through it, Astrid held a hand above her head and her fingers tapped on the waxy leaves as they whizzed past.

"Woah," Hiccup said, looking all around them as the dragons led them through the dips and curves of the tunnel.

And suddenly they came upon the big center cavern, lit from above by the open top of the mountain, through which sunlight illuminated dust and pollen particles until they glowed like stars mid-air in front of them, disturbed by the dragons' wings as they flew in. Toothless crooned in surprise and awe, and Stormfly turned her head this way and that to take it in.

It had turned green.

The ledges on which they and the other dragons had hidden from the Green Death were nearly overflowing with plant life, grass and vines and wild undergrowth, the walls almost covered in moss and little mushrooms and even littler flowers clinging to the once-harsh rock. It was unrecognizable. It was almost like the Bewilderbeast's safe haven of ice.

Astrid flew into the very center, under the spotlight of sun rays and turned back to Hiccup on Stormfly, hovering there. The sun lit up her blonde hair and blue eyes and it was all Hiccup could do not to let his jaw drop. She looked like a glowing, haloed goddess.

Toothless took the lead to guide himself and his best friend up to one of the wider ledges, on a still-shadowed part with thinner grass on it, perhaps because of its limited sunlight. Astrid and Stormfly flew up to join them, landing on a ledge above.

"Maybe it's the volcanic soil," Astrid said, dismounting Stormfly by their side while Hiccup craned his neck up to look at her.

"Yeah, it must be. And the sunlight reaches most of the cave at some point or another."

She went to the edge of her ledge, sitting down and dangling her feet, picking some dislodged pebbles out of the nearby grass like she was worried that they would smother the growth. She glanced down at Hiccup. "Now that the Queen's gone, it finally has a chance to grow."

"Well, in that case, all we'd need for the outpost is seeds, right?" Hiccup said, beginning to grow excited. "Obviously stuff can grow here."

"Exactly!" Astrid pushed over the edge and landed on his level in front of him, pleased that he finally saw the virtue of her ideas. She spread her arms. "So? Can we think about bringing some crops over here?"

Hiccup chuckled. "Yeah! I mean, why wouldn't we?"

"Ah!" Astrid threw her arms around his neck and he hugged her waist in return. "Good!"

"You wanna take the lead on this one?" he asked.

"Ehh," she let him go and shrugged. "I'm not exactly Chief material."

"What? What are you talking about, you're—so smart and so confident and so Astrid! Everyone listens to you."

Still she shook her head. "I'm not like I was when I was a teen anymore, Hiccup."

"What, are you getting shy?" Hiccup poked her side repeatedly as she fended him off. "You getting stage fright?" She grabbed his hand and twisted it back. "Ah! Ow! What? What then? You used to say it would be an honor!"

"That was before you got the honor and kept complaining about it."

"I—what? I don't complain that much—"

Astrid puffed herself up and mimicked his voice, "Gods, Astrid, you wouldn't believe how frustrating it is to be me! Vikings never want to change anything, even though all my ideas are clearly the best! Everything that goes wrong gets blamed on me and all I want to do is fly around and rescue dragons from trappers and I am constantly thwarted!" She threw herself melodramatically over Toothless's back and Toothless, thinking she was actually distressed, reached around and licked her.

"I don't sound like that," Hiccup laughed as Astrid let herself roll to the ground and slump there, facing up. "And that's not—that's not true, if I said that, it's not true. It's not so bad."

"It's your delicate temperament, huh?"

"Yeah, must be."

Astrid sat up. "I don't want your job, seriously. We'll figure it out together, Hiccup. We always do."

"Works for me. But… speaking of which," Hiccup said, glancing back at Toothless, who was aware of the plan already. "Of...you know, being together." He slipped something out of his pack and fumbled with it as Astrid stood and dusted herself off over the greenery. It was a tradition on Berk for a suitor to hand-carve wedding spoons, to symbolize that he would provide for the household. The more intricate, the better. And Hiccup had spent a long time on these ones. Matching designs of dragon wings looping in and out of each other in almost a spiral, polished until they were smooth, accented with metal. He stared at them and rubbed a smudge off, his stomach tightening.

Noticing his silence, Astrid turned around, and Hiccup glanced up at her. Her eyes widened.

"What is that?"

"Um." Hiccup nearly backed out. The words 'Oh, nothing. Just a project', were on his tongue and ready to jump out. But instead he held up the matching spoons without saying anything, and Astrid came over to him. Her hand reached out and took one; he hadn't even been holding them out in an offering gesture, too frozen.

Toothless looked back and forth between the two of them excitedly.

Astrid held the spoon like it was made of glass and she was afraid to shatter it, running her thumbs down its carvings. Tears pooled into her eyes. "Hiccup, when did you—I mean, we haven't even talked about—" She covered her mouth and mumbled something through her hand. It was supposed to have been, They're beautiful! But it sounded more like bbvhemmm mmmtmfmfml.

"Do you like them?" Hiccup asked lamely, and then he cleared his throat. "I mean, what do you think?"

"What do I think?" Astrid repeated, taking her hand away from her mouth. "I mean… oh my gods! Is this—are you—?"

"Yeah! I mean, only if you want to." He paused. "Do you want to?"

"Yeah!" Astrid nearly squealed. "Yeah, I really do!"

"You do!" Hiccup exclaimed. "Ah—!" Astrid held his face still, keeping the spoon safe in one hand, and kissed him. He kissed her, back, and Toothless and Stormfly pointedly looked away. When Astrid pulled away, still cupping Hiccup's face, they both laughed from relief.

"I mean, it's not like that much will change," Astrid giggled.

"Right," Hiccup agreed.

"We're already living together."

"Exactly!"

"And everyone already assumes we will."

"I think my mom's actually kind of mad that we haven't already. I mean, we already do everything together. Like the buddy system."

Astrid laughed and hugged him again, burying her face in his neck and being embraced in return. "Right. So not much will change."