Here you go!


"Please…" Hiccup begged, his strong young hand clasping her wrinkled fingers. "Don't leave me. I need you."

"Sorry…" she breathed weakly, her thin chest barely rising and falling. "I don't think I have a choice…"

"Just one more second, please, you can't do this to me!" He squeezed tightly, the floor cold against his knees. Just one more breath, one more word, one more moment with her. He prayed desperately to the gods, begging them to grant him this. It was the only thing he'd ever ask of them, the only thing he ever wanted!

"Goodbye…" her voice was even quieter—he had to strain to hear her—and he pressed his trembling lips to her forehead.

"Stay, please!"

She smiled weakly at him, her eyes begging for forgiveness. "Goodbye…"

Her chest stopped moving, and his heart curled up like a dead leaf. "No, no, please, you can't—" He kissed her head again and again, kissed her hand, shaking her thin shoulders roughly, praying the gods would grant him another miracle and let her stay with him—

"She's gone, Dad." His daughter, Zephyr, tall and grown up just like her mother, tugged on his shoulders.

"No, no, I have to—"

"You can't fix this one," she said gently. "It was her time."

"No. No! NO!" He arched his back and screamed, howling to the wooden ceiling of their home in denial. "ASTRID!"

Another figure joined his daughter, average height with blonde hair, and took his hand. "You should come outside."

"I'm not leaving her!"

"She's gone."

He should have been the strong one, he should have been the one his children looked to for comfort in this situation, but they were the ones whispering empty words to him. They pulled him out of the room into the large living area, filled with so many memories of him and Astrid, them and their children, them and their grandchildren—

He yanked himself free and threw himself out of the door, sobbing wildly as he fled through the village. The whispers of 'devil' and 'cursed' followed him like normal, but he couldn't care, sprinting flat out to escape, he had to get away—

He found himself by the lake on the mountain, staring at his reflection angrily. He was eighty three years old, for Thor's sake! He should be bent and crippled, his hair white and falling out, his skin saggy and wrinkled. Instead, a young man still in the prime of life glared back at him. He'd managed to grow a beard, but other than that he was stuck like this, doomed to lose loved one after loved one with no hope of a reunion. He angrily kicked the water with his metal prosthesis and shattered the image on the lake's surface. It was more of a pond, really, but she'd called it a lake, and he could never argue with her. They'd spent so much time on its banks, picnics and dates, camping out with their dragons, even part of their honeymoon after the dragons left—

He savagely swiped his face with his sleeve and pushed himself off the spire of rock sticking out of the mountain, into the air. It was three feet wide and twelve feet long, and they used to dive off it with their flight suits and glide like he was doing now, riding the winds as if they still had dragons. Her gorgeous hair would flap in the air, golden at first, then grey, and finally white. Finally, Zephyr had forced them to stop, claiming they were 'too old' and it was 'dangerous'.

She'd meant Astrid was too old. Hiccup screamed again, swearing at the gods for what they'd done to him. "WHY DID YOU CURSE ME LIKE THIS?! I NEVER ASKED FOR IT! I DIDN'T WANT IT!"

As always, there was no response. He'd never heard anything from them since that day. For years, he'd considered it the worst day of his life. The day the dragons left. The night the gods had cursed him with immortality as a sick kind of 'reward' for letting them go.

"I WANT TO DIE!" he screamed, landing roughly on the rocky surface of the sea stack they'd always stopped on. "I WANT TO GO TO VALHALLA! TAKE THIS CURSE BACK!"

Nothing. He beat his fists against the rock, splitting his knuckles. Blood ran freely down his arms. It felt good, in a savage way, so he did it again. Destroying his skin on the unfeeling rock, smashing his fingers, cracking his bones, sending throbbing pain up his arms that felt justified, in a way, like he should suffer like she had—

A wet sob clenched around his lungs, hot and painful, and Hiccup slammed his bloody hands into the rock and cried out as white hot agony streaked through his nerves. He was probably damaging something important, but he didn't care.

It wasn't like he wouldn't heal within a week, anyway!

oOoOo

Eventually, physically and emotionally numb and too tired to make himself feel anything, he hunched over on the edge of the sea stack. A 'Hiccup thinking spot', as Astrid called them. Most of their best talks had been on the edge of a cliff or sea stack. He should have talked to her more. He should have slept less and spent less time leading the village before passing it to Zephyr. He should have treasured the time he had with her before it was yanked from his grasp.

He stared at the ocean without seeing it, tears coursing down his cheeks. "Why? Why me? What did I do to deserve this?"

The sun sank as he sat, and it grew bitterly cold. Still he sat, hating that he didn't have to worry about hypothermia anymore. Everyone else would die. His parents had died, Gobber had died, his friends had died, his wife had died—who was next? His children? Zephyr already looked older than him—he would be lucky if she lived another forty years. He pulled his legs up to his chin and pressed his wet eyes against his knees, dampening the legging material. "Why…?"

A sudden breeze and thump behind him had his reactions sparking, nudging him to leap to his feet and spin around. He quelled it. What was the point? What was the point of anything?

Something leathery and familiar rested over his shoulders, and a travel-worn Night Fury stepped up next to him. 'I heard about Astrid.'

At least he wouldn't have to explain. It was little consolation.

Hiccup numbly glanced sideways at his former dragon. He looked older—not old, but more mature. Stronger, a little larger, and wiser. Night Furies could live for centuries, but even they didn't live forever. Another sob rose chokingly in his throat and he buried his face in Toothless' strong foreleg, a wing sliding comfortingly into place over his back.

"I hate them," he whispered softly. "I hate them! Why me?"

'I don't know,' Toothless crooned, slowly sinking to the ground with a little groan of fatigue. He must have flown a long way. Hiccup curled up and trembled in the small gap between leg and body, feeling like the young boy he'd been once, who'd been protected and comforted so easily by his powerful dragon.

They sat in silence for a while, neither saying anything. Eventually, Toothless spoke. 'I found them.'

Hiccup forced himself to make a conscious effort to be interested. "Found what?" Toothless had been journeying for years, searching for something, but he'd never revealed what he was hoping to find.

'Idun's apples.'

They were magical apples that granted immortality, Hiccup knew, but he couldn't bring himself to care. Ever since the gods cursed him, he'd avoided apples like a sickness—but the damage was done. Even a taste of Idun's apples were enough to make someone immortal. "And?"

Toothless whined unhappily. 'There's no way to reverse it.'

"You were trying to undo it?" Hiccup asked in quiet disbelief. "You didn't have to—"

'You're my rider,' Toothless told him. 'I love you, and I don't want you to suffer.' He whimpered. 'It breaks my heart to see you like this.'

Hiccup should have protested, but he was too tired, empty and drained by grief. He muttered quietly, "Thank you."

'I took one. I thought maybe you could save…' He didn't finish the cruel sentence, but Hiccup still mewled in pain and pressed closer to the scaly comfort, the last remnant of his childhood.

"Throw it away."

Toothless hesitated, and Hiccup suddenly knew. "You're going to eat it, aren't you?"

A nod.

"Bud, please don't. You have a mate, you have children! I don't want—I don't want you to feel this—" Hiccup stuttered, knowing it was futile but praying Toothless would see reason and be spared the agony of watching everyone he loved die. The pain of knowing he'd never see them again, not even in Valhalla. The crushing, wrenching grief that was turning his heart into a messy pulp that dripped in agonising streams down his ribcage.

'N—not anymore,' Toothless whimpered. 'I—'

"What is it?" Hiccup straightened, sitting bolt upright. There was something in his dragon's voice, something utterly wrong. He didn't want to know what it was, but he couldn't bear not knowing.

Toothless shuddered for a moment, a strangled whimper shaking through him. 'It's the dragons. They—they're gone.'

"What do you mean, gone?!" Hiccup's world, already dangerously cracked, shattered into a million shards that crashed down around him. The dragons were his life's work, his passion, his friends. If anything had happened to them—

'I came back to the Hidden World, and they were all d—dead,' Toothless whimpered. 'Odin's scourge. We never found a female Buffalord, and the last male died a few years ago… My mate, my children—they're g—gone.'

"No," Hiccup breathed, his eyes wide. "No, no, they can't—"

'Dart died while I was there,' Toothless told him, voice breaking. 'She didn't recognise me.' He held up his paw and Hiccup's blood turned to ice and cracked at the slight gash across the black scales. Odin's scourge was transferred directly into the bloodstream. If Dart had scratched Toothless he'd have it too—

'It was five days ago.'

Odin's scourge killed in three days at the most, which meant—"You ate the apple."

Toothless nodded brokenly, tears shining in his unearthly emerald eyes. Hiccup choked down a sob, wrapping his arms around Toothless' thick neck. Part of him, the selfish part, started spewing words. "Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you—"

Strong forelegs came up to rest against his back and Toothless rolled over, pulling him into a strong embrace. Sheltered and safe, hiding behind the one person who'd never leave him, Hiccup sobbed.

Toothless wept too, his shoulders shaking, and Hiccup reached up to pet his nose as his dragon wailed with the same pain he could feel in his throat and chest, squeezing and cold and consuming.

Later, they'd reestablish their bond after years apart. Later, they'd realise how lucky they were to have each other. Later, they'd be able to see the bright side.

Now, they grieved and shook with pain so deep it felt like they'd die, even the presence of the other not enough to numb the gaping wound torn in them.

THE END


Quick reminder:

1) Always Come Back—1.8k words, oneshot. Just some gratuitous Toothless whump, really.

2) Blood Always Shows—9.6k words, five oneshots in the same universe. I'm not entirely sure about posting this, because it deals with some stuff I know is a sensitive topic, and (thankfully) I have no personal experience with it. Nothing too graphic, hopefully, but still trigger warnings for self-harm and accidental near suicide.

3) Blush—1k words, oneshot. An attempt at humour. Right after HTTYD 1, Hiccup and Toothless were the pair dragons and humans went to when they needed translation. And sometimes, those conversations could be... embarrassing.

4) Coconuts—3.5k words, oneshot. Berserkers poison Hiccup, and Toothless and Astrid have to find the antidote that happens to be halfway around the world within a week.

5) How Not To Pick Your Dragon—3.1k words, oneshot. I saw an opportunity for Hicctooth hurt/comfort and took it. Slight deviation from the episode How To Pick Your Dragon.

6) Lowest Moment—23.3k words, sixshot. AU on Weakest Moment. Hiccup flew from Toothless' grip as he hit the ground, leaving Toothless alone to brave both Alvin and Dagur.

7) The Longest Dark3.3k words, oneshot. This was a request from Dargur about the episode The Longest Day. When the Shadow Wings are chasing Hiccup and Toothless, what if Toothless was too slow and Hiccup got hit in the face? Now blind, he has to depend on Toothless to get them out of there.

8) The Unspeakable Happens—3.7k words, oneshot. Like the title says, the unspeakable happens. Set in HTTYD 2.

9) Tired—3.7k words, oneshot. Immediate aftermath of HTTYD 1. Hiccup isn't Useless anymore, and he's determined to keep it that way. Toothless only wants his human well rested and healthy again.

10) Undeserving Trust—5.1k words, oneshot. The Terrible Twos, but from Toothless' POV and with a few extra details.

Thanks for making it this far!

~JustAnotherRandomPoster