"Go, Toothless" Hiccup slowly pulled his hand away from Toothless. "Go"

Toothless stared at Hiccup for a moment, his confidence wavering. Hiccup slowly nodded, tears beginning to fall, and softly smiled.

Toothless threw his head back and roared. All the dragons did the same, throwing their heads back and roaring to the sky. Their claws began to leave the ground and wings started to fly away from the cliff. The people's sad eyes followed their own dragons as they departed forever. The last one on the cliffside was Toothless. He turned his head once more, his expressive green eyes dilating at the site of his Hiccup. Hiccup tearfully nodded and smiled 'It's okay, bud' Toothless understood and took one last look at his best friend before spreading his dark wings, flying to catch up with the others.

As the silhouettes of the dragons began to fade into clouds, Hiccup's eyes filled with tears and he smiled.

Minutes went by,

No one moved. No one talked. No one left.

Everyone remained in their place as if glued to ground. There were some quiet sniffles and loud sobs throughout the crowd. People were frozen in shock or on their knees, holding themselves or others, trying to understand what just happened.

An hour went by. The sun was barely shining over the horizon, already slipping behind the skyline.

Slowly, people began turning and walking back to their homes to grieve in private and get the sleep they could. Hours passed. The crowd began to trickle away. When the sun finally dropped under the ocean line, Hiccup, Astrid, and Valka remained on the cliff.

Another hour went by. The three somehow found themselves sitting down on the tall, soft grass. Their gazes still locked on the darkened horizon. None of them spoke or touched each other, they only sat in the stagnant quiet, still unable to fully comprehend what happened. The stars slowly revealed themselves and glimmered in the sky.

When the moon finally peeked out from behind the dark clouds, Valka was the first to stir. She slowly rose from the ground and stood for a moment. She looked down at Hiccup, who had not moved from his place. Valka shakily sighed as she looked at a shell of her son. She put a shaky hand on Hiccup's shoulder, letting it linger for a moment, before quietly turning around and walking back to the village.

Hiccup and Astrid stayed frozen. With neither of their gazes leaving the horizon, they silently began moving closer to each other. They were close enough to hear the other's breathing and feel the warmth escaping from their bodies. Astrid turned to Hiccup. The moon illuminated the side of his face with a soft, silver glow. His expression was unreadable but his eyes spoke volumes. His gaze was still locked on the ocean. Astrid smiled sadly and opened her mouth to speak but hesitated. She turned to the ocean, then slowly back at Hiccup, and quietly sighed in defeat. She put her head down when a faint whisper interrupted.

"H-how?"

Astrid's turned to Hiccup. Eyes still locked on the ocean, his expression remained unchanged as he continued.

"I mean, how-" he croaked, "How could this happen?"

Astrid turned back to the ocean and remained silent. Hiccup raised a shaky hand to his face and pushed his hair from his eyes. The outline of the horizon was beginning to blur in his vision. His eyes stung.

"We-everyone was-" His breath caught. His voice began to tremble. "Everything was getting back to normal." Hiccup let out a breathy laugh as his eyes began to water. He pulled himself onto his knees and tried to stand. He fell over, forgetting that his prosthetic had been ripped off. He grunted in frustration and pain and rolled onto his back. Hiccup looked down at his stump and ran a shaky hand through his hair. He let out another tearful laugh.

"They just left. They-they left" He muttered and laughed again. He started to picking at the grass around him.

"We were going back to normal. Th-the village was expanding, we were re-rescuing new dragons. I was fi-final, finally getting used to being Chief! I mean, I was barely get-getting used to-" Hiccup's voice caught, "I was barely getting used to Dad not being around."

Hiccup ran a numb hand across his face, smearing the tears. He turned his head to Astrid, whose gaze was still locked on the dark ocean. Her delicate features were illuminated by the moon and her sapphire eyes glistened with moisture. Hiccup let out a pained smile and another breathy, shaky laugh.

"Astrid! I- I mean, we were talking about-" A sharp intake of cold air. Hiccup pulled himself from the grass and sat up, facing her, "We were t-talking about marriage! You and me, married! I mean, how-how" Hiccup turned his head to the ocean, his whole body shaking.

"H-how could this happen?" His voice wavered and he took a deep breath in. "How did-"Hiccup gestured to the water. His voice cracked. "How did this happen?"

There was silence for a moment as Hiccup took shaky breaths in and tried to stop his trembling body. A gust of the ocean air gently blew through the grass. The faint sound of waves crashing on the rocks could be heard. Somewhere in the forest, a wolf howled.

"I don't know."

Hiccup's head lifted to Astrid. Her eyes were still on the ocean and her bottom lip was slightly quivering. Her voice was barely above a faint whisper.

"I don't know why." The side of her mouth twisted into a small smile as a tear escaped from her eye. "I mean, we do know why. Of course, we know why." Astrid smiled even wider, almost crazily. She ran her fingers haphazardly through her hair, making it messily stick out.

"Everyone knows why. They-they are- weren't safe anymore" she breathily laughed as she pulled herself up to stand. Hiccup's eyes followed her shape as she walked to the very edge of the cliffside.

"Were they ever even safe?" She spoke out into the dark night. Astrid could hear the water moving below her and the trees in the forest behind her. She opened her eyes and looked up at the sky. The clouds had moved, blocking the light of the moon.

"There was the Red Death, Alvin, the dragon hunters, Viggo, Drago. And we took care of it, right?"

Astrid took a deep breath, the cold air stinging her lungs. She lifted her arms as if she were flying. Waves crashed below. The wind rushed through her hair, and she closed her eyes. The ocean's mist and the wind was harshly cold and made Astrid shiver. The shiver of the high altitude in the sky would be something she would never feel again. The harshest of ocean breezes could not compare to the arctic wind above the clouds.

Astrid's arms fell. She turned around to Hiccup. Her eyes stayed on the grass below her feet.

"Why did this one person lead to them being gone," she gulped. Tears began to trickle from her eyes and fall unto the grass. "Was he just that terrible that they couldn't stay? He's dead now, right? Were we just not equipped to handle this one situation even though we perfectly handled it before?!"

Astrid was yelling now. Her face was furrowed in anger and pain. There were tears streaming down her face. She clenched her fists and brought them in front of her. She looked at her shaking fists and opened her hands. Faint scars from training and riding were still there. Astrid's anger dissipated for a moment, leaving only the heartbrokenness and pain. The tears sprang from her eyes again. She put her hands down and stared at the sky. The endless, never ending sky...

"Or-" Astrid gulped, her voice catching. She raised her arms and hugged herself. She inhaled shakily. Slowly, Astrid lowered her head to look into Hiccup's tearful eyes.

"Or was it just-" she paused. "Was it just time for the dragons to go?"

Her mouth was upturned into a pained smile, stubbornly refusing to give into emotion

"To leave." she spat, her arm angrily gesturing to the horizon.

Astrid's voice caught again. She turned her body to face where her hand was pointing. She took her shaking hands and frantically ran them through her hair.

"They-they're" the words faltered. She clenched her jaw and refused to let the words out. Astrid looked at Hiccup again.

"They're go-" her breath hitched and she choked back a sob, falling to her knees alongside him. Hiccup's arms immediately wrapped around her, holding tightly, his whole body shaking with emotion. Astrid gripped his body tightly as she croaked out the words.

"Gone."