Hiccup lost his mind.
"I can't believe you—Alive! You're alive, and you're a Night Fury, but you're white, and—that must be why Drago didn't—Grimmel didn't—you survived the whole time, because you look like a Light Fury, and—because he was only after Night Furies—and—and there's two of you! There's another one, ohhhh, this is—I can't believe it!" He had to sit down on a nearby rock and the Light Fury laughed at him the way Toothless did. "And you're so—pretty! Toothless!" Toothless looked at him, ears pricked up, head bobbing along to the cadence of Hiccup's voice, which was maybe an octave higher than usual with his excitement. "There's another! OH, my gods, this is incredible. Another Night Fury!"
For her part, Albino was staring at Hiccup's excited frenzy. She lowered her ears shyly at first, but with a shared glance with Toothless, her frills picked up again and her head began to bob excitedly, too. She play-bowed with Hiccup and mimicked his prosthetic leg tapping on the floor with one of her paws.
Their Light Fury friend snapped her teeth at Hiccup to get him to shut up, and Hiccup lowered his voice. "Sorry. You're right. Toothless," he gestured to the albino Night Fury. And then nodded to her to emphasize his point and coax his friend towards her. "Go introduce yourself!"
Their eyes met again.
Slowly, the two Night Furies began to introduce themselves to each other, sniffing and rumbling at each other and circling, keeping some distance between them but not too much that the other might be able to get away. Toothless carried the scent of countless things—his own Night Fury blood, Berk, Hiccup, Astrid, innumerable species of dragons he spent his time protecting, human food, fish, ocean, lightning, dust, flowers, pine trees, sand, sky… and Albino smelled like Light Furies, waterfalls, rainbows, the sea, and something familiar but long-forgotten that stung Toothless's nose pleasantly.
She was taller than he was, by a little, and his body was more muscular. She was intact except for a little scar on her left shoulder, and her face was a little flatter. Toothless's ridges were a little more uneven than hers, and her scales were not as glossy. Otherwise, they were built exactly the same.
They stopped circling when Toothless was in front of Hiccup, who shook himself out of his awed state to go adjust Toothless's prosthetic tail into the position that let the dragon control his own flight. He even removed the wires that ran along the Night Fury's body from saddle to tail so that it could be easier for him, coiling them up and attaching them to his hip. He tested the spring by pushing the tail closed and releasing it. Albino watched curiously as Toothless's whole tail flicked open independent of his rider. Toothless looked at Hiccup for affirmation, which he easily got.
"Go on, Toothless."
Toothless roared, voice high with excitement, and launched himself at Albino, who trilled too. She jumped up to catch him and they both went careening into the waterfall, disappearing from Hiccup's sight. He and the Light Fury took a few steps after them as they were swallowed up.
The two Night Furies burst triumphantly from the other side of the waterfall, locked together and squealing with joy, tumbling and rolling mid-air into a world full of rainbows that their wings only disturbed. With every powerful beat, the light-saturated spray swirled around in curls, sending the rainbows fluttering away only briefly before they reappeared. Albino spun Toothless away, her eyes beaming brighter than the sunlit world around them and they flew in circles around each other. Toothless called to her as he soared upside-down and around her; she chased after him playfully.
Illuminated mist danced after her as she shot up above him, climbing quickly and shooting a bolt of fire at the sky that exploded like a firework the second she was dry enough. She dodged gracefully around it, and Toothless ducked to the other side, thrilled that she reentered his sight as they passed by the blast.
Then Toothless mimicked her, following above the waterfall spray and inhaled as powerfully as he could to shoot another one. With his raw joy, his back glowed blue and fueled the blast. Albino's eyes shone seeing him do this and she called out to him. Woah! And they dodged to each side of the blast again.
Their paths guided them still up until they were face to face, hovering just in front of each other as if in slow motion, bathed in the warmth of the sun and of each other's presence.
Another!
There's another!
Toothless smiled his human-like smile to her and she vocalized in surprise, her frills pricking up. The black Night Fury got shy immediately, looking away, but when he looked back at her she was trying to smile back at him.
Like this?
Toothless called out joyfully. Just like that!
They laughed together and Toothless reached out to give her nose a gentle lick just before Albino darted forward and latched onto his feet, guiding him into a dive, back down to the waterfall world. Toothless fell with her, feeling the rush in his heart as he brought his wings close to his body and let gravity take over. She twisted her head under her chest to make sure he was alright with it, and he was. As they reached sea level again, with still some ways to the bottom of the waterfalls, she let go, unfurled her wings and twirled herself to their right.
He followed as she ducked and weaved through the center of the meandering gorge in the sea, and she slowed to make sure he didn't lose sight of her. Finally, the chasm opened up into a great and impossibly deep hole in the ground, shrouded in the shadow of the waterfalls but itself not swamped by water. Above them rose a diagonal rock formation that ended with a half-crown of gem-like rocks that held the ocean at bay.
Albino called behind her to Toothless, still in a steep dive towards the hole leading into the deep. Trust me! You'll love this!
Together they plunged through the bright mists, watched by Hiccup and the Light Fury as they were swallowed up first by the light and the water and then by the shadows in the hole.
Toothless had been expecting darkness, once they were in there, and for a second his dark scales could have disappeared against the backdrop. And then Albino caught herself, pulling up and leveling off, pushing through the remnants of water dropping down from above, and when he came after, the world exploded in color.
Toothless's eyes widened.
Everything—everything—was aglow with bioluminescent light, glowing in every color he'd ever seen and more, even more vibrantly than he could have imagined was possible. Blues, turquoises, bright and dark greens, golden orange! The fragrant plant life covering the spires and stalagmites, the spotty covering of barnacles and fungus clinging to impossibly huge natural columns supporting a ceiling to the cavern that might as well not have been there; it was so big. The dragons glowed, and there were dragons everywhere—a hoard of tiny, glowing dragons he'd never seen before created birdlike waves in the space. Toothless heard calls he'd thought he'd imagined. Their wings and scales had patterns he'd never seen before, and his eyes drifted to his own wings. They were glowing too!
His body, with light blue glow-in-the-dark patch patterns, and Albino's patterns glowing white. She looked back and marveled at him, and he caught her eye, calling up curiously to her.
What?
I'm just looking at you. WATCH OUT!
He only just managed to dodge an outcrop from one of the support spires, and three Nadders took off in surprise. Albino laughed.
Stop distracting me!
I didn't do anything!
This was the long-forgotten familiar scent she had reminded him of. This hidden world, untouched by humans.
A pair of eyes below them locked onto Toothless and narrowed.
Albino guided him through a tunnel of pale purple-and-blue crystal, the first enclosed space he'd seen since they'd entered, and a massive golden rock lit them up again, smothering their unusual luminescence. It rose majestically from the floor of the cave towards its matching other half, a stalactite of equal size coming down from the cave roof.
The environment changed from the ethereal blue they had just been surrounded so totally by, to a world of warm colors, reds, purples. Warm magentas smothered the cooler blues and huge funguses created platforms and cover along with rocks that reflected the main rocks' glow. It was nearly as bright as the sun.
Some dragon they couldn't see hummed a melodic tune, and as she soared up, Toothless crooned behind her as they passed through the room. Albino looked at him as the golden glow reflected in his eyes. It had been a long time since another Night Fury had seen it.
She guided Toothless up to the little hollowed-out nest in the glowing rock hanging from the roof of the cave, surrounded by unfamiliar plants and fungal life which clung to it, and he mimicked everywhere she flapped her wings as though he was her shadow. The light from the rocks seemed to make her glow as though she was a sunset. She alighted on a little outcrop, shielded from the rest of the Hidden World with high steps that couldn't have been carved more perfectly. Perhaps there had once been a stream of water that had tumbled down them and molded them into a perfect series of nests.
Few dragons were using them, but Albino leapt from ledge to ledge as though she belonged there. Toothless followed her.
Where are we going?
Albino kept climbing. There was an old, old Night Fury flight dance that she wanted to try, and they needed to be high up to start it.
Finally she reached a suitably sized platform and turned to Toothless as he heaved himself up after her. She began to do her half of the Light Fury dance that Moon-guider had showed him, and Toothless watched her in awe for a few moments before she called for him to join in, and he rushed into his steps and they did the rest of it together, circling around each other, rearing up, and tossing their heads to circle again.
Albino was actually the one to mis-step, just at the end, and it resulted in their noses bumping together a little harder than gently. They both recoiled and wriggled their noses in surprise, and Toothless laughed.
She huffed, embarrassedly, and her face seemed almost a little pinker. She chattered to bluff her way out of his judgement.
Toothless looked out over the Hidden World that he could see. Dragons swept through the air around the glowing rocks, rolling and tumbling in the air as a flock, following wherever the majority seemed to go. Others intermingled on the floor, trundling around the rock floor and under the giant fungi with fish the size of Hiccup in their mouths to take to family or simply to swallow whole moments later.
It's like my home. Without the humans.
Curious, Albino's ear frills pricked up and her head tilted. She came up next to him to look over the Hidden World and once he looked at her and how close she was, he got shy, but didn't dare move.
You live in a place like this? Toothless nodded, still looking out over the realm, and she gave him a dubious look. There is no place like this. She nudged him with her wing and roared out. Dragons on the floor looked up at her, and she looked at Toothless expectantly. Say hello!
Taking the hint after a moment's pause, Toothless stepped forward and spread his wings, roaring as the Alpha as loudly as he could to the residents of the Hidden World.
En masse, at his call, every dragon's sensors were drawn to him. Their heads picked up, they stepped forward, they looked up and threw their heads up and roared back in their vast variety of calls, bowing to him as their Alpha.
They could sense the power in him. Proudly, Toothless raised his head and his chest puffed. He glanced back for Albino's approval. She was staring at him, instead, and he got shy.
You're an Alpha?
He glanced away, and realized Hiccup wasn't there to feed him lines. Instead of answering he just tossed his head and snorted a vague affirmative that sort of sounded and looked more like a sneeze than anything.
Albino laughed and bowed. Pleasure to make your acquaintance, your Highness.
And then the bow turned into a crouch and she jumped forward, off the edge, and turned mid air to look back at him, flapping in one place to wait for him. I want to show you something else. Follow what I do. And she dove backwards and upside down away from the rocks. Toothless launched after her, feeling the air under his wings as he smoothly careened after her. She led him in a huge, sweeping circle around the very edges of the Hidden World, up and around and never straying too far away from the central rocks.
The steps began to feel familiar. Toothless felt himself swept up in an instinctual air dance and parted from Albino so that they were across from each other, circling, circling, circling. Chasing each other's slipstreams from across the cavern.
A string could have been tied between the two of them taut, and they never strayed from their set distance enough to break it.
From across the cave, Albino called to him. They were doing it! He called back, feeling a great wave of warmth in his chest. He could do anything right now.
Dragons followed them as one swept upside down to the ceiling and the other let themselves drop, opposite, to the floor, and soar around in paths like planets around a sun. All he had to do was angle his wings and let the wind take him. Although there were places to slow, places to let gravity do the work.
It was as though he was born to fly this pattern.
Toothless realized his eyes were closed and they snapped open just in time for him to prevent himself from slamming into the glowing rock. He twisted himself away from it and looked around to find Albino having done the same thing for the bottom crystal.
There was not enough space in here to complete the dance.
Toothless exhaled firmly from his nose from frustration.
But still they met in the middle, on the top of the glow where dragons surrounded them in a swirl of greens and reds and blues. Albino was on top of the world. She had never done that with another Night Fury and she danced around as though she hated for her feet to touch solid ground again.
There were other steps, and she spread her wings to explain them to him, mimicking them as best she could while not flying and bounding around, twisting mid-air all the way around to land on her feet again. She even shot a bolt of fire that exploded shortly away from them, not near enough any dragon to hurt them. Then she looked at Toothless with fondness, got shy, and lowered her head as though embarrassed, but then came a few steps closer to him again, hopefully.
He purred back at her.
Almost hesitating, she closed her eyes and pushed her head under his, rubbing against him. Thank you for being here. He hugged her back, crooning, and they stayed there.