The half-moon hung over the island, casting it in a gentle glow as the world slept...all except two.
A dragon, dark as night, flew through the clouds and circled over the island. His nocturnal cat-like green eyes searching for any signs of danger as his rider controlled the prosthetic tailfin to help them fly.
Forest green eyes looked down at the island with intrigue before adjusting the tailfin to take them down. They landed in an open area on the east side of the island where the cliffs and beaches were located. After dismounting, the young boy, barely a man, laid a gentle hand on his dragon's head and gave him an affectionate scratch. The dragon warbled in content as he leaned into his touch.
The boy laughed softly, "We can set up camp here for the night, Bud. We'll go exploring in the morning."
The dragon agreed before the rider went off to gather sticks to make a campfire. The dragon curled up to rest after long days journey by flight. His ear flaps perked up when he heard something in the distance. It didn't sound like his rider, or any dragon species he's familiar with. He waited a moment before standing up on all fours to search for the sound. He crept through the foliage, sniffing the air as he caught the smell of something foreign, like sunshine and tropical vegetation. The scent became stronger the further he walked until he got to a wide clearing in the middle of the forest.
The black dragon stopped dead in his tracks when he saw something white and shimmering in the middle of the area. It was curled up, its wings tucked in as it bathed within the moon's light. He watched for a long time before taking a cautious step forward, only for a leaf to crunch beneath his foot.
The sound alerted the white creature as their ears perked up and they swiftly turned around to hiss at the intruder in warning.
The black dragon's green eyes went wide upon seeing the most beautiful dragon in existence. But it wasn't her beauty that caught him off guard, though she was slightly smaller than him, the body shape and wings look shockingly similar to his own.
With curiosity and bemusement written on his face, he fully stepped out of his hiding spot and revealed himself to the other.
The white beauty stopped hissing almost immediately when she saw him. She raises her head, relaxing her stance and tucking her wings in.
As though spellbound by the blue eyes, the black dragon slowly approached her, but kept a respectful distance as not to appear threatening. Both dragons circled each other, not taking their eyes off the other as they took in the similarities between them.
The black dragon warbled, 'You look-'
The white dragon made a sound similar to a cat, '-like me.'
They stopped and observed each other, their reactions were similar.
'I've never seen another that is...' The white dragon tilted her head, her blue eyes filled with sadness and hope.
'Yeah, me too.' The black dragon gave the white beauty an understanding look as he took a tentative step forward. The scent wafting from her tickled his senses.
'What's your name?'
Before the white dragon could voice an answer, a twig snapped.
The black dragon bared his teeth and growled at the intruder. What he didn't expect was a young woman with curly hair and big brown eyes coming out from behind a tree.
The white dragon got in his line of sight and growled in his face, standing between him and the human.
"Whoa, whoa, easy girl!" The young woman leapt out of the foliage and came to the white dragon's side, laying a calming hand on her head and lightly scratching it. This action calmed her down, but she didn't relax her stance.
Big brown eyes turned to the black dragon. Her face filled with wonder and awe before taking a small step forward, slowly rising from her crouched position.
"Hey there, it's okay." She said in a soft voice as she slowly raised her hand while keeping her left on the white dragon's head. "I didn't mean to startle you."
This girl's posture reminded him of his rider, only less awkward. Looking into the brown eyes that were surrounded by these strange circular frames, he could see the same gentleness and compassion his human has.
Relaxing his posture, he slowly stepped forward, sniffing at her fingers before leaning his head forward to rest her hand over his snout.
She breathed out a small yet beautiful laugh as she rubbed his snout. Standing up to her full height, her other hand came up to scratch behind his ears. "There we are. Not so bad, right?" She continued to speak gently to the creature who crooned at her touch. "Where did you come from?"
"Toothless, where are you Bud?" A voice came from outside the clearing, making the black dragon turn to look behind him to see his human break out of the foliage carrying an armful of sticks.
Forest green eyes widened at the scene before him as he dropped his sticks in shock.
"Oh, Thor." He said in bewilderment as he took in the sight of the beautiful white dragon and the girl standing beside her as she kept petting his dragon.
The girl gave him a friendly smile and wave, "Hello, I take it he's yours."
"Um, uh, y-yeah, yeah he is." He stumbled over his words before he came over to them until he was beside Toothless who curled his long body around him.
The white dragon did the same with her human. The two dragons crooned at each other.
"Looks like you made a friend." He stated as he glanced between the two, completely baffled by the similarities.
"Indeed, he has. Her name is Luna." She introduced her dragon to the pair. "You called yours 'Toothless'?"
"Yeah. Show 'em." At his human's command, Toothless opened his mouth showed them his retractable teeth.
"Huh. Can you do that?" She asked Luna who did the same as Toothless.
"How come I've never noticed that before?" She asked herself in bewilderment as she watched the teeth disappear and reappear.
"Are you...a dragon rider?" The boy asked as he watched their interactions.
"Yeah." She answered while giving Luna affectionate scratches.
The boy was silent for a moment before he released a peel of laughter, much to their surprise.
He ran his hand through his hair, "Oh Gods, this is fantastic. This-" He breathed out another laugh, "This is the first time I've met another dragon rider like me."
"Same here." She smiled, sharing in his enthusiasm.
She held her hand out, "I'm Mirabel."
He brought his hand up and wrapped his calloused fingers around her softer ones, "Hiccup."
"Bless you."
"No, my name is Hiccup." He clarified as her face morphed into what he expected, surprise and confusion. "Not my idea of course."
"Well, can't be the worst." Mirabel stated with a shrug as she released his hand.
Hiccup thought about it for a moment then shrugged as well, "Yeah, you're right. I could be called 'Mildew'."
Mirabel released her own string of laughter.
Elsewhere, a grouchy hermit released a very loud sneeze.
"My home is not far from here. Why don't you join us?" Mirabel offered with a welcoming smile.
"Well-" Hiccup was interrupted by a loud growl from Toothless, only it wasn't from his mouth.
Mirabel breathed out a laugh, "Come on, we got plenty of fish." She beckoned them to follow as she and Luna led them through the forest.
After fighting through vegetation and rocks, they made it to an area with a waterfall filling a lake.
Toothless' ear flaps went up as he sniffed the air and released a low threatening growl.
"What is it Bud?" Hiccup asked as Toothless growled at a tree.
"TeVeo, stop hiding, these are our guests. You too Azul, come say 'hi'." Mirabel called out to her friends, not wanting Hiccup and Toothless to feel threatened.
Eyes appeared on the tree before they peeled their body away to reveal themselves to the newcomers in all their glory.
Hiccup was slack jawed when he realized what he was seeing for the first time, "That's a Changewing."
"'Scuse me?" Mirabel asked as a light blue Terrible Terror perched itself onto her arm before it crawled around her shoulders.
"Changewing. I heard about them, but no one's ever seen them since-"
"-they blend into their surroundings?" Mirabel raised an eyebrow with a light smirk.
"Exactly. This is my first time seeing one." Hiccup said as he sat down in front of the Changewing and held a hand out to the dragon and bowed his head.
While TeVeo was surprised by the boy's actions, he hardly appeared threatening. In fact, he looked quite enthralled when she appeared before him. With an inquisitive look, she inched towards him, sniffing at his hand before connecting his palm with her snout.
Hiccup raised his head and smiled at TeVeo who purred at him, granting him her trust.
Mirabel smiled at the sight as she scratched beneath the chin of her Terrible Terror.
Afterwards Hiccup and Toothless were in front of a dug out firepit within the cave behind the waterfall. While the dragons enjoyed their fishes raw, the humans cooked theirs over the fire. Hiccup looked around and saw a bed in the corner furthest from the waterfall, and clothes hanging up to dry.
"How long have you been here?" Hiccup asked as he surveyed the interior of the cave.
"At least two months." Mirabel answered as she stroked the spine of the Terrible Terror snoozing in her lap. "This little one is called Azul. You already met TeVeo."
"You picked really good names for your dragons." Hiccup complimented as he glanced at the dragons gathered together.
Mirabel smiled at his words, "Each name holds a meaning. Luna means 'moon', TeVeo means 'I see you', and Azul means 'blue'." She explains as she glanced at each of her dragons.
Hiccup laughed, "That's quite appropriate, and it suits them."
"Thank you." Mirabel looked away from her dragons, "So, where are you from? What brought you here?"
Hiccup looked hesitant as he scratched the back of his neck. "Oh, yeah, um...that's kind of complicated."
Mirabel scooted an inch closer, "You said I'm the only other dragon rider you met, right?"
"Yeah."
"Nothing complicated about that in my book." Mirabel said with a reassuring smile. "But hey, you don't have to tell me now. I'll just change the question instead. Is that okay?"
"Uh, sure." Hiccup shrugged, feeling at ease with the girl who has not given him judgmental looks at all.
"How long have you been flying for?"
Hiccup counted in his head and gave an appropriate estimate, "About four months."
Mirabel grinned as she raised three fingers, "Three years for me and Luna."
"Get outta here." Hiccup grinned, "Have you ever done a nosedive while barrel rolling?"
"All the time." Mirabel smirked as the conversation bled into their favorite flight maneuvers where they each made exaggerated motions with their arms to better describe their experiences.
Luna and Toothless watched their humans' interaction with exasperation and amusement.
'This is the first time I've seen Mirabel so animated with another human.' Luna observed as he watched the way Mirabel's eyes light up with laughter when Hiccup described one of his mishaps during his test flights.
'Same with Hiccup. And I hardly saw him talk with people from his village.' Toothless warbled in agreement, remembering how at the time when the two were stuck together and how the boy awkwardly talked with the blonde girl who seemed to hate him for no reason.
'Your boy's an outcast. I see it in his eyes.' Luna stated before she sighed, 'They're the same as my girl's.'
Toothless glanced between Mirabel and Luna. 'Her too?'
Luna nodded, 'They weren't harsh with her, they just never made her feel accepted.'
'No wonder she felt similar to Hiccup.' Toothless said, remembering the moment he touched her hand, it was nearly the exact copy of Hiccup.
'And how they get along so well.' Luna added before opening her mouth wide to release a deep yawn.
Mirabel glanced at Luna then back at Hiccup, "I think it's time for us to turn in too. You're free to stay the night."
"Uh, are you sure?" Hiccup asked, surprised at the offer.
"Of course, I won't leave my guest out in the open." Mirabel said as she glanced around for a good area for Hiccup to sleep in. "You take that spot."
"Yes, ma'am." Hiccup saluted, much to Mirabel's amusement before he got up and went to his pack and pulled out a bed roll before laying it out on the area that was a reasonable distance from Mirabel, not too close, but not too far.
Hiccup sighed as he laid out in his bed then turned just in time to see Toothless blazing fire into the ground to create a warm spot to sleep in as he circled around then laid down with a content expression. Luna did the same as she laid her head down close to Toothless'.
TeVeo curled up and closed her eyes and lightly snored away.
Azul was tucked in beside Mirabel who laid a hand on his scales, feeling the rise and fall of his chest.
"Hey, um, thanks for letting us stay for a bit." Hiccup said as he looked across to see Mirabel watching the dragons with as much fondness.
"It's the least I could do for a fellow dragon rider." Mirabel breathed out a small sigh, "I consider this proper payment honestly."
"What do you mean?" Hiccup looked confused at her statement.
"I've never seen Luna so happy. It's our first time seeing another who looks like her, yet not like her." Mirabel explained as she watched their dragons sleep close together as though they've always done it.
"Yeah, same here." Hiccup then looked sad, "To be honest with you, he's the only Night Fury I've met in my life. He may very well be the last of his kind."
Mirabel frowned, "Luna's not his kind?"
Hiccup shook his head, "Not exactly. Luna could be a subspecies to the Night Fury, a very distant cousin."
"So, if not a Night Fury, then a-"
"Light Fury/Bright Fury."
They turned to each other in confusion.
Hiccup shrugged, "Yeah, I like yours better. Light Fury."
Mirabel giggled, "It sounds prettier."
Hiccup agreed, "It does. Goodnight, Mirabel."
Mirabel laid down and got comfortable with Azul, "Goodnight, Hiccup."
Hello everyone, after a year and five months, I am happy to give you all a new chapter. Consider this a Christmas gift after a long wait. Not sure how long my inspiration will last, so I'm writing out as much as I can before I shift gears again. Next chapter they will get to know each other even more. Leave a comment below. Happy Holidays.
