Here we are! The next chapter! We are finally winding down to the last few chapters of the final arc of this story. I managed to push through my writer's block and we're finally here! I think this will be the second to last chapter of this story. I know...the end is coming, but as I'm considering my retirement from this gig, this is one of the stories I promised that I would complete. Not to mention I promised the original Author, A Simple Cup, that I would finish this story.
I hope you all enjoy Chapter 22 of No Need for Titles.
The next morning, the Riders of Berk, Arendelle, and several other islands were flying high above the ocean, heading west towards the edge of the known world. Hiccup was leading the pack while Elsa was flying with Anna on Rockslugger, holding on to Zephyr with Skaði nearby.
Fishlegs called out.
"Excuse me. Coming through. Just skipping through here. Fishmeat, eat your rocks. Eat your rocks."
Fishlegs gave a couple rocks to the small hatchling of Meatlug as Snotlout groaned with frustration.
"Gah! People who fly with babies are the worst!"
He ducked as a lava blast hit his seat. Gobber flew up to Hiccup.
"I feel like I'm always asking you this question but- woah!"
Gobber suddenly fell from the sky as his dragon, Grump, fell asleep.
"Wake up, Grump! Wake up!"
As he recovered the dive, Hiccup glanced through his spyglass, peering ahead across the distance.
"Is there an actual plan or-"
"Just keep flying until we reach the end of the world," replied Hiccup.
"Ah, seems sensible."
Gobber gave a look at Elsa, who simply shrugged. She was out of her depth on this one. She glanced ahead to see Toothless looking around, clearly sensing something.
"Hiccup!"
Hiccup glanced down at his dragon, rubbing his head.
"What're you picking up on, bud?"
A black mass shot out from one of the clouds as Elsa gasped in surprise.
"The female Night Fury!
"She's following us!" shouted Valka.
Suddenly with a plasma blast and a crack of lightning, she vanished. Gobber was gobsmacked.
"Would you look at that!"
Tuffnut looked around.
"Where did she go? Is she made of sky?"
Elsa rolled her eyes and looked over at her husband and Toothless, trying to spot the Night Fury. A piercing scream was heard as the Female Night Fury flew over her, grabbing Hiccup from Toothless and tossing him off with a scream.
"Hiccup!"
The Female Fury looked at Toothless like she did something really good. Toothless just looked back awkwardly before diving to retrieve his rider. As the two leveled out, Anna and Elsa came alongside. Hiccup stared ahead, an upset look on his face.
"Not a word."
Toothless looked around to find the female Night Fury only to not see her black form against the blue sky. He growled sadly.
Elsa glanced back at her mother and father riding Sleuther. Clearly words needed to be said between her father and Hiccup. But with everything that had gone on...it seemed that there was always not enough time.
Back on Berk, all of the dragon trappers, warlords, Grimmel, and Æsa, who was wrapped heavily in furs, trying to keep warm as her hair was half-white, half-grey.
Chaghatai growled.
"So? Where are they!?"
Grimmel snorted.
"Gone. Obviously."
Griselda threw up her hands.
"The Night Fury escaped you? Again!"
"I encouraged it," replied Grimmel. "They've abandoned their only defensible position. Running scared with what little they can carry. Don't fret. They won't get far. The Night Fury is distracted. I introduced him to your female. Furies mate for life, you see.
Ragnar waved nonchantualy at him, clearly frustrated.
"Yeah yeah yeah. Yes. But where did they go?"
Grimmel sighed, facing palming, pulling out his map.
"Do I have to explain this? Night Furies can't survive in the cold so they haven't gone north."
He quickly crossed off north on his map before continuing.
"They're trying to put distance between themselves and enemies to the east and south..."
He quickly crossed off east and south on the map.
"...And Night Furies cannot fly long distances without rest. Their flight path must include stops. Therefore, they've gone... They can only have gone... Does anyone want to take a guess?"
Grimmel stared at the group of warlords, clearing upset with their lack of brains.
"Anyone?"
As he tried saying the first letter of the direction, Ragnar smiled. This caused Grimmel to smile as well. Clearly he was making progress with the idiots when...
"Ah! East!"
Ragnar placed a wooden boat on to east of the map. Grimmel growled and pushed him away.
"West! Hmm? Simple, you see? Oh-ho, isn't this fun? Yes? No."
The warlords just groaned and walked away.
"Where's your love of the hunt? I thought you were conquerors! You'll have your prize, in time! Just allow me a few more days to enjoy this. I have dearly missed it."
Æsa shivered, collapsing as her hair turned whiter. Grimmel went to her side, and held her.
"My love, have you been taking your elixirs?"
Æsa pushed her husband away, standing as she rubbed her arms together.
"They're not working! I have tried everything the healers have said. And you are not helping! I'm freezing to death here because you care about one stupid dragon! If we had just attacked sooner, the icy bitch could have been dead and I would be back to normal. But clearly your love of the hunt is more fucking important than your love for me!"
Grimmel stared at Æsa in shock, but his face grew angry.
"You think the love of the hunt is more stronger than my love for you?! I rescued you from the fire. I could have left you to die, but I didn't!"
"You haven't even looked into magical ways to heal me. I have. Legend says an act of true love can thaw a frozen heart. But you have no love for me...not enough to save me...just go...enjoy your hunt. While I freeze for all eternity..."
Æsa went inside Hiccup's former house and slammed the door.
"Æsa! Fine! If you wish to die, then so be it!"
Grimmel headed down to his dragons, whistling for them to take him up. Æsa let a frozen tear fall to the floor.
A barrel slammed into some grass as Hiccup looked around.
"Alright! Looks like we're camping here for tonight."
Gobber sighed.
"Well, thank Thor for that!"
An argument broke out between Snotlout and Eret. Well...not much of one at least. Gobber chuckled.
"Ah, don't mind him. It's not your fault you have the body of a Norse God. I, myself, have the same problem."
He stretched his back, a painfully crack following.
"Aaah!"
As he placed several tools on the ground, he talked to himself.
"Blacksmith stall goes right here. Gaaah!"
Several Hobgobbler's stared back at him.
"One, two, three, four, five... where's...?!"
He slowly backed away as Hiccup looked around, concerned at how homey everyone was making the island.
"Oh, okay. Hold on, gang. I-I said make camp...not, build a new village."
The crowd stopped and looked at him with wide eyes. Including Elsa, Anna, and their parents.
"Granted this place is very nice, but it's not the Hidden World."
A male viking called out.
"We don't even know if this "hidden world" exists!"
A female townsfolk from Arendelle called out.
"Yeah. This place is real!"
She pointed at the ground as Valka made her way over.
"There's nothing more stubborn than a mob of tired, hungry Vikings."
Hiccup nodded as he glanced around. He sighed.
"Well, I guess this could work as a base in the meantime. It's defensible. Hidden.
He called out to the crowd.
"Alright! You can stay!"
"Say hello to New Berk and Arendelle," cheered Gobber. "Let's get building, lads!"
A cheer from the crowd went up until Hiccup spoke again.
"Until Toothless and I find the Hidden World."
The crowd groaned and walked off to start building.
"If you're going to continue west," spoke Valka quietly. "I should head back to make sure we weren't followed."
"Just, be careful."
Valka paused, wanting to say something to Hiccup, but paused, thinking better of it until her son spoke up.
"What?"
"This plan... to hide us from the rest of the world, though-though I wish it were possible, I fear it can't last, Hiccup. And you know I tried to do the same for years. But greedy humans always find a way. I just... I only ask that you think about it."
Valka patted her son's shoulder and walked off. Elsa came over, holding Zephyr in her arms. Hiccup turned to her.
"Do you still think I'm crazy or..."
Elsa smiled.
"Let's just say, this whole idea is very...you."
Astrid nodded as she came over.
"She's right."
"Well, thanks for supporting me last night. It meant a lot."
"Don't thank me yet. I just hope you're right about this."
Astrid pushed his father's notebook into his hands, while Elsa shoved Zephyr into his arms.
"Your turn to watch her. Oh. And mom and dad want to talk."
Hiccup gulped.
Agnarr and Iduna were talking with Anna and Kristoff, trying to reconnect with their daughter along with.. trying to understand that she wasn't the same girl they had left all those years ago. I mean she was wearing dragon scale armor, and had a husband who talked for his reindeer. Sven and Olaf were nearby exploring the island as Hiccup made his way over.
"Agnarr...Iduna.."
Agnarr stood up straight, trying not to falter, but found it difficult to speak. After all, how do you explain the fact that you are the former king to someone you called your son? Something that person needed to hear?
"Hiccup...it...uh..."
Hiccup bit his lip, trying to find the words. He had anger. Oh lots of it. But knowing what they had gone through..trying to find out the truth of Elsa's powers..almost dying...being captured...all the anger he had held in the back of his mind for so long since he found out the truth melted away, and he sighed before pulling Agnarr into a hug, sobbing.
"I missed you."
Agnarr returned the hug, trying and failing to hold back the tears.
"Missed you too...son."
The two friends embraced even tighter before Zephyr made an unhappy grunt, clearly not liking the position she was in. The two men pulled away with a chuckle. Agnarr smiled.
"Can I hold her?"
Hiccup nodded and handed Zephyr to her grandfather, who cooed with wonder. Hiccup glanced up towards the sky, seeing darkness start to fall. Somehow he knew that everything would be okay.
How wrong he was.
Hiccup was fast asleep on his bed with his father's book on his face. Elsa was laying in a small hammock, with Zephyr pressed to her chest, Skaði asleep next to them. Toothless who was laying next to Hiccup stirred as he sensed something. As he stood, he knocked Hiccup down out of the bed causing him to groan.
"Toothless, no, it's too early."
The tent flap suddenly opening and shutting open caused him to wake up as well as Elsa.
"Did Toothless just?"
Hiccup nodded.
"I'm gonna go follow him. See what's going on."
Hiccup soon found Toothless and the female Night Fury on the beach. The female sat across from Toothless staring at him. She blinked her eyes at him, waiting for him to make the next move. Toothless glanced up at Hiccup. Hiccup flapped his arms to simulate wings flapping.
Toothless glanced at his wins before flapping them briefly, however the female Night Fury just looked unimpressed and licked herself. Toothless looked up at Hiccup and Hiccup did another dance and stepped on a stick, breaking it. The female glanced up at the hill behind them, feeling suspicious. Toothless started flapping his wings very quickly, but started spinning around, kicking up sand. As he spun around, he stopped himself, splashing sand into the female Fury. Uncovering herself, she sneezed licking her nose clean. Toothless groaned, clearly frustrated.
He glanced up at Hiccup who was putting his thumb up and doing a chicken dance. Toothless copied what Hiccup did but nothing seemed to work. Toothless decided to try some more dances and the female Fury just stared at Toothless. Hiccup facepalmed. When Toothless got too close to her, the female Fury hit him in the face before flying to a nearby branch, and hanging down from it and covered her face with her wings.
Hiccup looked worried as Toothless walked to the start of the branch. Toothless leaned out from behind the tree and pointed towards the end of the branch with his wing and then started walking to the end of the branch. Hiccup gestured to not do it, saying the branch would break, but Toothless misunderstood, bouncing on the branch, disturbing the female Fury even more and the branch broke with one final bounce, dumping Toothless back into the sand. The female Fury growled once more and covered her wings. Toothless growled sadly.
Hiccup waved his arms, trying to get Toothless' attention. Toothless looked at Hiccup but he saw Elsa. Elsa turned to Hiccup.
"Let me try," she whispered. She made a icicle and wrote in the sand with it, waving her hand. It left a message.
"Be yourself."
Toothless looked at the message and cocked his head before looking at the fallen branch. Grabbing it with his teeth, he started drawing in the sand. This drew the attention of the other Night Fury who watched as Toothless drew. Toothless was focused, intent on impressing the female as he drew. The female Fury dropped down just as Toothless finished drawing her face.
Hiccup quietly laughed.
"Oh, now you can draw! How did you know, babe?"
"A woman always knows what she wants, my dear husband. Now, shush. Look."
Toothless and the female Fury stared at each other. Hiccup beamed.
Then the female Fury started walking away and took off, inviting Toothless to follow her. She flew around Toothless while he ran across some rocks. The Fury hovered and noticed Hiccup and Elsa on the hill. She growled angrily and flew away. Toothless tried to fly off with her but without his tailfin he quickly fell into the lake before surfacing, looking at where his tailfin should have been and he splashed his tail angrily in the water. Hiccup paused and looked thoughtful.
By mid-morning, Elsa had woken up from a few more hours asleep, walking out of Hiccup and her's tent to find her husband working away on a makeshift table, staring through a magnifying glass. Readjusting Zephyr on her hip she looked at an old drawing of Hiccup's. Clearly a design from before she met him.
"Oh. Someone hasn't slept."
"Yeah," Hiccup replied. "Well, that Night Fury won't let me within a mile of her."
Toothless scratched himself and several scales shed, Agnarr picking them up and handing them to Hiccup.
"And neither of us will be getting any sleep or finding the Hidden World until Toothless takes over."
Toothless pushed Hiccup out of the way to look through the magnifying glass.
"Hey! What do you think of that? Yeah."
Hiccup gently pushed Toothless back and picked up a bowl.
Elsa glanced over the tail design followed by her father. He turned to Hiccup.
"You tried this once before. He didn't want it."
Hiccup picked up the scales and dropped them into the bowl.
"Well, until now he didn't have a reason to. Right, bud?"
Toothless spit into the bowl and Hiccup mashed the scales, creating a black paste. The same technique to make Toothless current tail.
Elsa stared at her husband.
"Hm..."
Hiccup glanced over at Elsa.
"What?"
"No. Nothing. I'm-I'm impressed. I mean, look at you. Embracing change. I am proud of you."
Hiccup took a brush and started painting the last little bit of the leather.
"Well, he's my best bud. I want him to be happy. And besides it's just until he brings her back."
Hiccup kissed Elsa's head and picked up the new prosthetic tail fin. Elsa looked worried by what Hiccup had said.
Hiccup unfolded the tail and slid some goggles over his eyes, not noticing that Gobber was walking into the firing line.
"Alright, fire when ready!"
"Oh!"
Thankfully Gobber was behind the tailfin, clearly proofing it was firepoof after a plasma blast from Toothless. Gobber's clothes were singed and his mustache was on fire.
"Well, I guess you know the tail is fireproof."
Gobber walked away clearly upset as he put his mustache out. Hiccup glanced sheepishly at the Blacksmith before turning to Toothless.
"Okay, Toothless."
Toothless ran around excitedly, bouncing all over the place.
"Okay. Okay. Okay. Yes, I know. Shh, I know. Shhh."
Toothless stopped running and let Hiccup start attaching the new tail.
"Okay, I know."
Hiccup tried to attach the tail but Toothless kept wagging his tail, clearly too excited for his own good.
"Please, this is not helping."
Eret made his way over, carrying logs.
"Well, well, well. Someone's excited."
Hiccup chuckled.
"Uh, he's fresh off his first date. Now he's love-crazed."
Hiccup managed to get the tail attached and was still making some adjustments as Gobber spoke up.
"Only we're the ones going crazy. The sooner he brings back that female Night Fury, the better."
Hiccup nodded.
"Yeah, but to do that, he'll need to fly without me. So, time to give this new and improved baby a shot."
Hiccup finished and let Toothless test the tail.
"Attaboy! Looking sharp, Toothless. So, what do you think, bud? Bring her home..." Hiccup slipped into his impersonation of his dad. "By sundown at the latest."
A cry called out.
"I heard that Hiccup!"
"Sorry dad!"
Toothless pushed his head into Hiccup, licking his face, and giving him a hug.
"No, save it for your girlfriend! Go on, get out of here!
Hiccup urged Toothless to leave with a light push. Toothless started running off but stopped. He turned around and looked at Hiccup. It was almost as if he was asking for permission.
Hiccup nodded.
"It's okay."
Toothless roared with excitement and took off. As he flew around the island, he looked at his new tail fin and then at Hiccup. Hiccup had a bright smile as he watched his best friend fly off, but that smile faded as Toothless' form grew smaller and smaller. Everyone around Hiccup stopped working and looked at him in shock. Elsa touched his shoulder.
"You going to be okay?"
"Yeah...I will."
With a heavy sigh, everyone got back to work.
And we're back! Hopefully everyone enjoyed! See you in the next chapter!