Disclaimer: I don't own anyone, the characters for HTTYD belong to Cressida cowell, Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders and Dreamworks. I own nothing!
Fly on your own
Three months later...
The waterfalls crashed and the fog was thick as a familiar family of dragons perched themselves on some rock pillars that stuck out of the ocean.
It was still vastly different from the Hidden world where the dragons now resided but there was no comparing to the fresh, open outside world with its vast oceans and grand blue skies. Though many of the dragons had ventured across these lands once, the dragons now had a slight caution since they knew that they couldn't be discovered.
However, to quench their thirst and desire to see the world outside the hidden world, Toothless and his mate decided to take their whelps on a special outing.
The family of black and white dragons all just basked as they got ready for a big moment.
Toothless had a feeling that the former dragons of Berk such as Stormfly, Hookfang and Cloudjumper would try to follow him and his family. He knew that they would try and lend him moral support and probably wanted to see their respective riders once again...however he knew he couldn't risk that. He could sympathise that they simply wished to reunite with their partners but it would have put them at risk if they were re-discovered before their time.
It was enough that he had sent Stormfly out on a scouting mission and they were out of the protected area of the Hidden world, he didn't need anymore hassle.
Toothless stretched his slender body out upon the rocky formation, wings flexed outwards and green eyes cast watchingly out on the horizon with his long, black ears erect and his back arched. He nodded in self-confirmation as he gave a satisfied snort through his nostrils and then proceeded to turn to face his mate and three whelps.
The Light fury lay down on her rocky perch beside Toothless whilst she observed the three babies carefully yet lovingly, sapphire blue eyes large and caring as she swished her tail a bit in an absentminded fashion.
She purred in what sounded strikingly similar fashion to a coo.
The female of the three whelps (the night fury with the blue eyes, white nose, paws, chin and tummy) pounced on one of her brothers (the light fury with the teal eyes, black tail and ear tips) and knocked him off of his fours, forcing him on his back to expose his tummy while the younger brother (the night fury with the green eyes, dark scales, and white spines and tummy) was standing next to them but had gotten toppled over when the youngsters started with their horseplay.
The three had grown since they'd hatched but were still quite small.
The female was named Dart and her brothers were Pouncer and Ruffrunner.
Toothless smiled down at his brood as he eyed them, a serious glint shimmering in his lime green eyes. There was a reason he and his mate had brought them to the surface; the whelps had started walking about a week after they'd hatched, but now it was time for them to put their tiny wings to use...
It was time for them to learn how to fly.
The Male Night fury could vividly recall a time whence he had free reign of the skies, back before he had met his dearest friend, Hiccup, and even back before he had even lost one of his tail fins and was rendered "flightless". He had taught himself how to fly through the treacherous heavens, he taught himself how to survive those dark and stormy nights, as well as the occasional hurricanes and cyclone —he could even recall when he, himself, was an orphaned whelp and had even glided through the air for the very first time. He knew how these skies would be the best way for his young to learn how to trust the wings they were born with.
The ebony-scaled adult Male then used his own eyes to point towards the open air once more.
The three-month-old triplets chirped as they peered up at their father, cocking their small heads in confusion.
Toothless crooned softly, his throat eliciting a soft purring growl of a sound, as he used his left wing to point upwards and then he flapped both of his wings to make more of an emphasis. He knew he had to make this clear so they would understand that it was time for them to learn to use their wings. He twitched both tail fins, and flapped them too to get them ready for the flight he was about to take.
The babies seemed to realise what was about to happen.
Toothless and his mate pulled on their biggest attempts at smiles and proceeded to bend down and grab their whelps into their mouthes by the scruffs of their necks, Toothless holding the female whilst his mate held the two males, and flapped their wings before they took to the air without any trouble whatsoever.
The baby dragons trilled and squirmed in Toothless' and the Light fury's mouthes and were obviously excited about the thought of flying on their own for the first time. Toothless snuffed sternly at the whelps, causing them to stop their squirming and had jerked themselves into silence. He needed his brood to know that this was serious and they needed to be calm.
The three Nightlight furies cooed and looked guilty and eyed their parents apologetically.
The Light fury mother purred in a forgiving manner, although there was a hint of sternness in her sapphire blue eyes. Even though she loved her hatchlings she never could tolerate her babies misbehaving and had taken to being quite a strict dragon mother, but she never forgot to let her whelps know how much she cared.
Now, when it came to training dragon whelps how to fly independently, the preferred method was to drop them and watch them fly whilst struggling yet it wasn't ideal since the trio were special and Toothless was afraid about what would happen to his daughter and sons. He glanced down thoughtfully with worry etched upon his face, looking down at the ocean down below. What would happen if they fell?
What if they weren't ready...?
As he felt his confidence falter, he kept flying.
But Toothless' eyes widened when he felt a small amount of pressure on his back and he glanced across and noticed that his mate had placed one of her outstretched wings on top of his back and smiled, in spite of the two whelps hanging from her mouth, in a reassuring manner.
He felt a bit of his confidence return then.
He just needed to trust that his whelps would be ok.
This was how all dragons learned how to fly and he needed to trust that.
Toothless and his mate looked each other in the eye and nodded at each other, opened their mouthes and the dragon whelps started to fall towards the sea below. He felt a pang of panic hit him right in the heart as he watched his whelps fall towards the ocean and he felt every instinct scream at him to dive down and save them...but he also knew that this was the dragon way of things and he couldn't interfere.
The baby Nightlight furies fell farther and farther down until they were close to hitting the ocean surface...and then the three spread their wings out to the sides, opening them up, and then they floated straight back up alongside their disbelieving father and their prouder-then-anything mother.
The three flapped their wings as hard as they could, the wind currents had helped them glide through the sky, then they glanced up at their parents as they seemed to await further instruction of what else to do.
They seemed to have a bit of trouble with keeping themselves flying, due to inexperience and to still learning.
Both adults Night fury and Light fury looked at their precious babies and then decided to demonstrate to them how to keep their wings beating calmly through the air, making it so their wings flapped simultaneously as to make it easier for them to follow their lead. Plus it would help them practice on how to glide and keep themselves flying for longer distances.
The baby Nightlight furies took well to this and flapped their wings in time with their mother and father.
Toothless glanced back momentarily to look at his own tail fins, checking to see if they were carrying the wind currents like his wings were in the best position to keep him airborne. He noticed that his artificial fin was fluttering upwards a bit, steering him to be a bit of an awkward angle. He readjusted his tail so both fins straightened out and cut through the air like a pair of butter knives through hot and melted butter, making sure he was flying easier.
He noticed that the whelps had seen this and copied his actions, making sure their own tails were keeping them afloat —the one female and two males chirped delightedly as they kept themselves focused on flying. They took their time in experimenting with how big or how little they needed to pitch their banking when it came to their wings, taking the time to learn how to work their wings to suit their individual needs and personalities.
He actually couldn't believe how quickly the whelps had taken to this.
The next thing they would have to learn was how to make themselves temporarily invisible by heating up their respective skins as they flew through their own plasma blasts, due to the Night fury and Light fury species having mirror-like scales that would help them blend into their surroundings whether it be night and or day.
Due to the whelp trio having the traits of both, it could possibly benefit them.
Toothless knew it would be rather difficult, though, as he could recall having some difficulty turning himself invisible in his own plasma blast and he could remember using some of the lightning surrounding him to pull this off...and it made him feel slightly weakened afterwards.
Toothless felt his heart swell in his chest with pride.
In response, he decided to put on a display of pride as he expanded his wings and made a two-second ascend. He flapped his wings hard and flipped himself in midair, laying on his back as he then whirled in the sky, he folded his wings against his back and started to fall back down. He plummeted down fast and hard until he put his wings back out and caught himself, gliding through the air alongside his family.
The babies raised their heads and trilled triumphantly.
Toothless and his mate looked at one another with naught but pride shimmering inside their eyes.
They were flying.
Their whelps were flying!
The baby Nightlight furies were flying on their own for the very first time!
It wasn't long until the group had found some more rocks to bask on, catching their breaths.
Toothless quickly realised that he and his family must have flown pretty far from the Hidden world and he felt his heart skip a beat or two when he saw a wooden boat sailing towards them.
He didn't hesitate to climb up to stand on all fours, his posture crouched defensively. He wasn't going to let any human hurt his mate and his whelps. The adult Night fury, his mate and the whelps all looked over the sharp rocks out of both caution and curiosity as their hypnotic gazes pierced through the thick fog and they tried to gauge whether this was friend or foe.
Stood at the front of the boat, the Night fury saw a scrawny human man whom sported a thick brown beard, had scruffy brown hair and wore a bearskin overcoat. Toothless blinked for a moment in near disbelief. This human bore a near striking resemblance to the man he had killed during his control by Drago Bludvist's Alpha...Stoick the vast, Hiccup's father.
Toothless sniffed the air and realised quickly that a familiar scent was coming from that boat.
This couldn't be.
Could it?
Toothless felt a few eyes on him and glanced down at his three-month old trio of whelps and their collective pairs of eyes were overflowing with fear and perplexity, clearly afraid of this new (and probable) threat but also not sure how to take it. He gave a purr of reassurance and looked over to his mate for a brief instance and nodded to her, signalling her to take care of the dragon fledgelings to which she nodded resolutely.
Ok, that was sorted.
The Male Night fury took another sniff of the air and realised Stormfly was nearby so he had backup.
So Toothless, feeling it was his solemn duty to investigate, took to the air once more and flew straight over towards the boat and landed hard on the bow of the boat, causing it to tip from side-to-side unsteadily on the water. He bore his teeth at him, not bothering to retract them into his gums until he was sure his suspicions were proven correct.
In spite of his fearsome presence, the human man showed no fear whatsoever.
"Hey..."
That voice...he recognised that voice.
Nevertheless Toothless kept scowling, he glanced around the man for a second and saw a familiar blonde woman whom was protectively holding two young human children close to her. He had to guess that this was a human family...but could this really be him?
"Hey there, bud."
The faintest hint of shock lit itself inside his eyes as realisation hit him like one of Odin's mighty thunderbolts. He could hear that soft, soothing kindness soaking the human's words and he sniffed curiously at the group of humans. It was only when the boat steadied after a few shaken moments that he climbed off the bow and strode towards the human whilst he remained crouched in front of him. His lime green eyes pierced the human's soul, and the human's eyes pierced his own soul right back.
This had to be him...this just had to be!
"Remember me?"
...Hiccup?
A/N: SURPRISE! This is a surprise second chapter.
It takes place at the ending of HTTYD 3 and I thought, to make it fit with the title, I should see how I thought the first flight of Toothless and his girlfriend's babies. I hope you guys enjoyed it and I hope it brightens your day/night.
Don't forget to review and fave, guys.
-Chloemcg