Hiccup blinked repeatedly, gazing into his best friend's loving soulful eyes. Toothless' pupils were wide and happy, his mouth opening into one of his adorable gummy smiles.

"You…can talk," Hiccup said. He chuckled weakly, stepping closer. "Oh gods, you can talk, and…you've been talking all this time, haven't you?"

Toothless purred in confirmation, nodding once more. A number of other dragons cooed and warbled around them, mixing with the sounds of cascading waterfalls beyond.

"And…and…I didn't even know," Hiccup said. "I didn't even notice, and…oh gods…"

Suddenly, Hiccup found himself unable to look his best bud in the face. He backed away slightly, staring at the ground, a deep pit beginning to open in his chest.

"Thor, I'm so stupid," Hiccup mumbled. "Why would I…how could I have missed this?" Once again, he felt a heaviness building behind his eyes.

Toothless abruptly stepped into his vision, letting out a plaintive croon. He went to nuzzle Hiccup's cheek; Hiccup leaned into it, swallowing hard.

"Bud, I'm sorry," he said. "I'm really sorry, okay? I should have…I should have seen this. I should have known that you…you…"

He should have known that Toothless' sounds were more than just the noises of an animal. He'd known that Toothless was a person; he'd known that Toothless was smart, and that Toothless could easily understand him. How could he not have at least suspected that Toothless — and by extension, all dragons — could have a language of his own?

"Mrrrr," Toothless went. He nuzzled harder; Hiccup scratched his head in response.

"Gods," Hiccup went. "I'm a horrible friend…"

Toothless brought his face right up to Hiccup's. He croaked, and then a range of noises left his mouth…

…except…no, Hiccup thought suddenly, those were not just noises. They were words! Toothless was speaking, once again!

"Fishbone good friend," Valka said softly, coming into his view. "Fishbone like brother. Fishbone best friend of Toothless. That's what he just said."

Hiccup looked to Toothless, who nodded once in confirmation. Hiccup blinked a few times, then he smiled.

"That's…" Hiccup went. "That's…wait a minute, Fishbone?"

He stepped back, glaring at Toothless in mock offense; Toothless threw his head back and let out a loud dragon-laugh.

"Yes, well, dragons don't get hiccups," Valka said, her face serious. "I guess they have no word for it." Toothless then said something, which Valka translated: "And he refuses to call you 'runt'."

"Okay, sure," Hiccup said. "But Fishbone? What kind of name is that?"

He smirked, striding towards his best friend, and then he jabbed a finger into Toothless' scaly chest. Toothless snorted lightly, looking distinctly unimpressed.

"I'll have you know, mister," Hiccup said, "that I'm a big. Strong. Viking." He poked Toothless' chest repeatedly. "I even have muscles. Look!"

He flexed his arms — an act made far more impressive-looking by the armor he currently wore.

"See?" Hiccup said. "I'm no 'Fishbone'. I—"

Toothless gave his face a lick.

"Toothless, ewww!"

A number of dragons let out that laughing-sound of theirs; Hiccup found himself chuckling along with them. As ever, Toothless had known exactly what to do to cheer him up; as ever, Toothless had been the perfect friend.

Then Toothless gave him a toothy smile, and Hiccup immediately deflated.

"I mean…that's…fair…" Hiccup said, as the dragons went quiet around him. "I…never gave you a choice, did I? I just started calling you 'Toothless' and—"

Toothless crooned apologetically, lightly butting his chest.

"Hey, uh…Toothless?" Hiccup said. "Should I still call you that? Is there something you'd prefer I call you?"

For a moment, Toothless simply stared at him like he'd grown an extra head. Then he began to speak rapidly, letting out a range of clicks and warbles and coos.

"He's saying…" Valka began. She gasped, and then she smiled faintly. "He's saying…Toothless is his name now, Hiccup. He's saying that it's a special name, that he'll never want to be called by anything else."

Toothless said something else, his pupils widening a little further, his head tilting slightly to one side.

"He says it's special," Valka said. "Because you gave it to him."

Hiccup heard himself giggle. His mouth fell open, and it curled slowly into a smile. He then ran up to Toothless and hugged him, all before even realizing what he was doing.

He both heard and felt the dragon's purr.

Slowly, Toothless sat back on his haunches. Then he put a single foreleg around Hiccup, returning the hug, pulling Hiccup in just a little bit closer. Hiccup grinned at that, pressing a cheek against warm scales. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words seemed appropriate for what he currently felt.

Then Toothless spoke again.

"Mine. Yours. Us," Valka dutifully translated.

Hiccup grinned at that, shutting his eyes. "You got that right, bud," he said quietly.

Around him, the dragons had started making noise once again. They milled around, talking amongst themselves — about him and Toothless, Hiccup was sure.

They were talking. Because dragons could talk. Because his best bud could talk. And their language was right there, just waiting for Hiccup to understand it.

The world, once again, had gotten a whole lot bigger.


Stoick marched through the nest's winding caves. Skullcrusher led the way in front of him, sniffing and tracking, while Gobber and Grump brought up the rear. Grump was grumbling, probably wishing he'd be allowed to stop and sleep; Stoick found himself grumbling right along with him.

"Boar headed…just like his mother…never knows when to stay put…"

His head throbbed steadily; he rubbed his forehead as he walked.

The cave was rocky and dark, and it was cramped for Skullcrusher especially, but Stoick could faintly see light ahead. He silently thanked Odin that they had yet to encounter another dragon. There were dozens upon dozens in this nest, judging from the flock they'd witnessed earlier; Stoick could faintly hear them, even now.

Abruptly, Skullcrusher jumped up a steep crevasse. Stoick rushed forwards, as Skullcrusher disappeared over the ledge above.

"Wait, Skullcrusher," Stoick said firmly.

Skullcrusher rumbled an acknowledgement.

"Yeah, we ain't gonna be able to climb that," Gobber said, scratching the back of his head with his hook. "Eh, Grump? If ye wouldn't mind?"

Grump grumbled lightly, but he didn't delay. He couldn't readily fly in such a narrow cave, so he instead raised Gobber up towards the top with his head. Grump backed up once Gobber had climbed over, ready and waiting to begin boosting Stoick up.

"Thank you, Grump," Stoick said as he got into place.

Stoick found himself in a hurry to get moving. His son was in here somewhere, and something had made him lose his helmet! And so, as soon as Grump started raising him up, and as soon as Stoick could reach to climb up, Stoick greedily grabbed the ledge and yanked himself over the top.

He came down hard on his stomach; his helmet fell off and clattered to the ground, his legs still dangling over the side.

"Up ye come, Chief," Gobber said, holding out his hand.

Stoick let Gobber help him up, giving Gobber his thanks. Then he went to retrieve his helmet, as Grump quickly pulled himself up.

"Oh, Val," he mumbled under his breath, once his helmet was safely in his hands. "If only you could see our son now…"

The helmet was amongst his most precious possessions. It had been forged out of his beloved Valka's breastplate — not her breast plate, as Hiccup seemed to think when he was younger, but a much larger piece of the armor — and Stoick always took great care to keep it close.

Stoick sighed, and then placed the helmet back where it belonged.

If only he could have saved her that day…if only he'd been a little faster…if only his thrown axe had struck true! He'd saved her from a dragon once before, with such a throw; they'd started courting almost immediately afterwards. What better way to begin a relationship, than to kill a dragon for one's true love?

"...eh, Chief? Ye coming?" Gobber asked.

Skullcrusher looked back from up ahead and snorted, seeming to ask much the same.

"...aye, I'm coming," Stoick said, alert once more.

He marched alongside his old friend, with Skullcrusher to his front and with Grump at his back, and he found himself feeling increasingly morose. That poor beast he'd killed for Val had probably been one of the Red Death's thralls — hardly a creature deserving of death. And then there was that other dragon, who had snatched Valka away, never to be seen again and…

"...it wasn't from that nest," Stoick said.

"Eh?" Gobber said. "What wasn't, Stoick?"

"That dragon. The one with four wings, who took Val. It didn't come from Dragon Island, Gobber. When it took her, it…turned off, from the others. It flew off in a completely different direction!"

Gobber stayed quiet, the hesitation plain on his face.

"It went…in the direction of this place, or close enough," Stoick said, recalling the painful events of that fateful night. "What if…what if it's here, Gobber?"

Gobber patted his back firmly, with a sympathetic smile.

"Eh…let's just worry 'bout Hiccup for now. Aye, Chief?"

Stoick nodded to that. Gobber wasn't wrong.

"Aye. You're right," Stoick said.

That was when they stepped into daylight.

The sight that greeted Stoick was far from what he'd expected: a verdant green cliff, looking out onto a great bright dragon-filled expanse. Dragons flew and played in the air, flying round and around, while others clung to assorted rocky surfaces. Sunlight streamed in through a roof of thick ice, providing abundant light and warmth.

"What the…" Stoick mouthed.

He noticed Skullcrusher looking down from the edge of the cliff, tense and obviously unhappy.

Stoick went to investigate, quickly finding the reason why.

"Thor almighty," Stoick whispered.

Below the cliff, on the other side of a wide lake, stood the largest dragon Stoick had ever seen: a white-scaled monstrosity who put even the Red Death to shame, with a body covered in dark-tipped spikes. The creature was looking away from Stoick, curled up and resting in the water, but Stoick could still make out one huge tusk jutting from its face.

Instinctively, Stoick found himself reaching for his hammer.

There were other dragons over there, Stoick noticed — lots of other dragons, of a huge variety of shapes and sizes and colors. Clearly, something was happening down there — something those dragons deemed to be important.

"So what now, Chief?" Gobber said, coming to join him at the cliff. Then he spotted that massive white dragon, and his eyes momentarily widened. "Ah," he said. "Now that could be a problem."

"Aye," Stoick went. He moved back from the cliff, beckoning Gobber and Skullcrusher to follow. "We need to find out what's over there. But I doubt they'll take kindly to Vikings if they notice us. Skullcrusher, I need you to—"

Then he froze, as a particularly fat Gronkle flew up from below the cliff edge.

"Ah," Gobber went quietly.

The creature hovered weakly, with dozy eyes. It let out a great yawn and smacked its teeth together, then it landed a little ways away from them. It looked over to the four of them and croaked a greeting, before laying itself down to nap.

Stoick had just started to relax when the Gronkle's eyes shot open.

"Ehhh…nice dragon?" Gobber tried.

The Gronkle had gone rigid, its eyes bugging out and darting between the two humans, as though having only just realized it was seeing. Skullcrusher and Grump both made beseeching croons, but that only made the Gronkle back away.

"Hey now," Stoick said, trying to remember the hand-trick that Hiccup had taught him. He approached the Gronkle with a hand held out, resisting the long-ingrained urge to go for his hammer. "We won't hurt you. We mean no harm. We're just looking for my son. We—"

The Gronkle raced away with surprising speed and took to the air, screeching all the while.

Moments later, all Hel broke loose.