Song: Wind Beneath my Wings (cover by Idina Menzel - Frozen II edit by Sanjay). I did have to cut it, so here's a YouTube link to the version specifically tailored for this fic:

/watch?v=s67AvC1y6d4


Wind Beneath My Wings:

"Awe, don't feel too badly; you tried your best! But, you are nothing without your dragon!" Grimmel told Hiccup as he stood up there in that machine with Toothless and 'Hope'. All Hiccup could do was watch helplessly, the words Grimmel spoke digging their way through her mind and into her heart.

Grimmel began to take them away, his Death Grippers leading the machine, and all Berk's dragons following their Alpha. All her surroundings faded from Hiccup, nothing but darkness coating her world. It was like Drago all over again. Toothless gone, their dragons gone, and Hiccup at the center of it all; the one to blame. Hiccup was the one who was selfish, and it always cost her everything every time. Every time. It was always her fault. (Start Song)

But Toothless…he wasn't selfish. He did nothing but give and give and give, taking nothing for himself. He gave Hiccup everything, and made her into the person she was. Without him…she was nothing.

"It must have been cold there in my shadow…" Behind every feat she made, Toothless was there to let her. Toothless was always there to help her rise from her own mistakes. Without him she couldn't have defeated Drago, and without him, she couldn't defeat Grimmel. Hiccup was still just the screw up kid she always was. He was the hero.

How Toothless could let her live such a lie, Hiccup would never be okay with. How could Toothless just be okay with her taking all the credit while he was just her sidekick? How could he have ever let her think she was anything more than a selfish kid blinded by a dream that could never be? How could he let themselves live such a lie? Did he ever once give himself the credit he deserved? Did he even know?

"Did you ever know that you're my hero…?" If she could have done everything over, Hiccup would have said so at the start. His strength, his selflessness, he was everything Hiccup only wished she could be. The only reason she could fly as high and fast as she could was because of him. "…You are the wind beneath my wings."

»»»

She wished she had seen it in all these years. The fame, her friends' devotion, her dad's praise, her mother's awe, none of it was deserved. Being the hero, her dad's hope and heir, Berk's champion, it was all a lie. Hiccup always had that feeling somewhere deep inside, but was so blinded by love to see the truth. Now she knew. "…I would be nothing without you!"

"Did you ever know that you're my hero…?!" And now what? Everything in Hiccup wanted to charge at Grimmel's machine, but another part knew Toothless would never let her near for fear of her or 'Hope' being hurt. Everything in Hiccup wanted to just do something, but without her dragon, what good was she? Without him at her side, she wasn't even sure she could fly.

Her wings spread out, but there was no strength to try, something deep deep inside keeping her back. "…You're my everything, everything I've wished I could be…!" Useless! Nothing! It echoed over and over. "…I could fly higher than an eagle, 'cause you, you were the wind beneath my wings."

»»

"Talk to her. She'll listen to you.", Valka whispered to Aric, and knowing she was right, Aric stepped forward.


Just so you know, Hope isn't the Light Fury's official name in this universe. It's more of a placeholder.