When the wall lit up again it was daytime and they all watched as Not-Toothless flew quickly over the vast ocean, a rider on his back. Sadly, the rider wore a whole dark armour that didn't let them see him completely, but it didn't take a genius to realize that was probably Not-Hiccup. A red tailfin was attached to Not-Toothless' tail, replacing his real one. It intrigued Toothless to see it but mostly, he watched as Hiccup leaned forward to try and study it, his eyes narrowed.
As the scene continued, the shriek of Not-Toothless' speed made the adult Viking frown and shrink a little in his place while Astrid just hunched her shoulders a bit. Hiccup looked like he couldn't believe he was going to enjoy such a thing. Honestly, with his tailfin missing, Toothless couldn't believe it either. But it looked like he was going just as fast as before, if not even faster!
On top of Not-Toothless' back, Not-Hiccup lay flatly against the dragon instead of sitting on his back, clearly trying to make them go even faster. His peg leg confirmed that it was, in fact, him. Thunderdrums leapt out of the water below them and the dragon and his rider ignored them. Not-Hiccup did something with his prosthetic foot that changed the angle of Not-Toothless' tailfin, and the dragon moved accordingly, making them spin in the air.
"Yeah!" Not-Hiccup called happily – and it was his voice, if not a bit deeper. Older, then. Well, he did look taller, even though he was still wearing his full body armour, so it was hard to say what he looked like, really.
The duo began to fly upwards, dancing around the clouds. Now Not-Hiccup was sitting, yet he crouched down to still help maintain their speed. Not-Toothless looked like he was having a blast. Especially when he roared gleefully, spun in the air like crazy and then reached the peak of his climb before abruptly stopping and flapping his wings. He warbled happily and sent this strange… gummy smile to the sky while Not-Hiccup reached with his hand back as if trying to touch the clouds. They fell backwards and moved through a layer of clouds before Not-Toothless righted himself and they both went on flying. At some point, Not-Toothless spun slowly in the air and while they were still upside down, Not-Hiccup let go of the dragon with his hands and spread them by his side the same way Not-Toothless spread his wings. Above the two of them, Timberjacks soared, not bothering them in the least.
They looked so… free. Happy. Content in the air together. Toothless didn't know what it'd feel like to ride with someone on his back, but despite his original reluctance about the entire ordeal, he had to admit that if it was Hiccup on his back… and if it would feel as amazing as it looked like… maybe he wouldn't mind all that much after all? He warbled and turned his head back to Hiccup. The boy sent him a look full of wonder and eagerness, his eyes sparkling. Clearly, they both couldn't wait for the future.
Eventually, Not-Hiccup let his arms fall down to the saddle Not-Toothless had and he looked down at the dragon's face. "What do you think, bud? You want to give this another shot?" The rider asked and Not-Toothless' enthusiasm turned sour, his eyelids drooping a little. Alright, so whatever it was Not-Hiccup wanted to do – it wasn't something Not-Toothless was too excited about. "Toothless, it'll be fine!" He messed around with the paddle that his peg leg was attached to and that controlled the tailfin and the redfin spread, steady. "Ready?" Not-Hiccup asked and rolled one shoulder. Not-Toothless warbled again, confirming that he was, yet still sounding apprehensive.
And then Not-Hiccup leaned sideways and slipped off of the saddle and from Not-Toothless' back, yelling as he fell down through the clouds. The chief jumped in alarm and screamed Hiccup's name while Astrid stared, slack-jawed. Her eyes were wide with terror as she watched the future Hiccup throw himself off his dragon like that. Hiccup, to be honest, didn't look too bothered. For some reason, he mostly looked like he was excited to see what his future self had in store for them. Toothless didn't share the sentiment and instead growled at him and hit him lightly with his tailfin. For a moment he was surprised that the action didn't make him freeze in his place, but then he decided it was probably not considered actual violence. Hiccup just smirked amusedly at him, unbothered.
Not-Toothless followed Not-Hiccup down, though his turns looked a lot less slick. Probably because his tail was now stuck in the same formation all the time. It didn't seem to bother either of them, though. "…YEAH!" Not-Hiccup called into the air. "Whoooo-hoooooo!" He looked over when Not-Toothless tucked his wings beside his body and fell right in front of him, looking right at him. Not-Hiccup's eyes were crinkled in mirth – the only feature of him that was exposed. "Yeah!"
Not-Toothless gave the boy this weird gummy smile again – something Toothless knew he'd never done before in his life – and then let his tongue flip out of his mouth. He looked like he was having just as much fun as his rider. Why was he so much against this, then? They circled each other for a while before Not-Toothless looked away and down, towards the approaching sea below them. Not-Hiccup noticed it as well and adjusted some things on his armour before he suddenly spread his arms suddenly there was fabric in the space between his arms and his body and he looked like he had wings of his own! He spread them and the wind caught him, making him glide in the air. A moment later Not-Toothless did the same and joined him. As if remembering another part of all of this, Not-Hiccup pulled his arm to his chest and tugged on something that made what looked like a flipper spring from the back of his armour, adding to the appearance of a dragon.
"This is amazing!" Hiccup called out, his body leaning forward to watch closely. "Oh, this is incredible! It's-it's unbelievable!"
He was sitting on his bent legs now, his hands on the ground. He looked like he couldn't believe his eyes, yet he couldn't look away either. Toothless smirked. Yup, flying was incredible, wasn't it? Of course, the chief shrieked a little in alarm at the scene the entire time, sounding like he was choking or dying a little. Even Astrid sounded worried at first, though she was now mostly enthusiastic about the entire thing, obviously seeing how fun it was to fly freely in the air like that. Sure, Hiccup had to glide in this future when he wasn't on top of Toothless, but he still looked like he was having the time of his life in the air.
He was a human. And yet… he flew!
When Not-Hiccup glanced back at Not-Toothless, the dragon looked like he was already feeling much better about the whole thing. Actually, Toothless thought he looked rather surprised by their success so far. He even crooned lightly at his rider before Not-Hiccup turned back forward. "Ohhhh! Whoa-ho-ho!" He sounded like he was in his natural place, up in the air, relying on the currents of the wind. Toothless had to admit, it suited him. And when Not-Hiccup began to slide down, Not-Toothless sent forward plasma blasts that kept him going steadily up with their recoil. "This is amazing!" He called back to his dragon and then they moved past a bunch of clouds and a tall rock formation revealed itself right in their path. "No longer amazing. TOOTHLESS!"
Toothless felt like he needed to look away, yet he couldn't. The future version of himself roared loudly, alarmed and worried. He tried to reach Not-Hiccup quickly to save him but the stupid tailfin made it hard to turn or navigate very well so he advanced, but not as quickly as he would have liked. Not seeing anything else to do, he blasted the rocks Not-Hiccup was headed towards and then finally got to him, curling his wings around the armoured boy and falling through the dust, trees and land of the island they reached – both of them yelping and whimpering together.
"Oops." Hiccup flinched and sent Toothless a shy, apologetic grin. The dragon huffed and snorted at him but didn't really hold a grudge. It looked like it wasn't their first time crashing into things if the way Not-Toothless naturally wrapped himself around Not-Hiccup was anything to go by. "Umm… now I see why you weren't that much into it, huh?"
Warbling in annoyance, Toothless tilted his head from one side to the other, his earflaps flipping with the movement. He looked over at the chief who didn't even bother looking at them while Astrid crawled a little closer to them, her eyes softer. She was warming up to the whole idea, then. Not as fast as Hiccup, but quickly enough. When he met her questioning, hesitant eyes, he just warbled again and looked away. He hoped she got the messages that he didn't mind her around.
When Toothless turned back to the wall, though, his ears flattened themselves against his head at the sight of Not-Toothless releasing Not-Hiccup who simply got up and began to fold the wings back into place, along with the flipper. He didn't look like he cared much about their crash landing. Behind him, though, Not-Toothless stumbled back to his feet, looking annoyed. He even shook his head, probably to clear the dizziness from falling like that from the sky. Again. As a dragon who just had to suffer a very high drop out of nowhere, he could relate to this future Toothless.
"That really came out of nowhere," Not-Hiccup said cheerfully. He and Not-Toothless turned back when the rock they blasted earlier came crashing down completely. When Not-Toothless looked back at his rider, the guy was already busy with his armour again. Not-Toothless grumbled at him, obviously upset. "We-we gotta work on your solo gliding there, bud. That, uh, locked-up tail makes for some pretty sloppy rescue manoeuvres, eh?"
Ignoring the dragon's snarls, Not-Hiccup finished taking care of everything and then took off his helmet. And yup, he was older. The Vikings in the room gasped. Toothless couldn't REALLY blame them, since it looked like the tiny human he was curled around grew up to be tall, lean and clearly handsome. At least in the eyes of humans.
His hair was darker and less tamed, falling into his green eyes. His freckles still covered his entire face and the way he observed the land before him… had the same spark of curiosity the present Hiccup had when he looked at the wall with the pictures on it. Toothless did notice Not-Hiccup had a braid in his hair, for some reason, and a bit of stubble on his chin, marking the beginning of a beard, though he didn't look like he wanted to let it grow.
Nodding appreciatively at the view of the land, Not-Hiccup still ignored Not-Toothless' displeasure. "Looks like we found another one, bud." That is until Not-Toothless threw a small rock at the back of his head. The rider turned to look back at him, surprised and then amused. Not-Toothless glared away from him, showing his annoyance. "Oh, what? Do you want an apology?" Not-Toothless turned his back on him and then huffed in confirmation when the human got closer to him, leaning a little to look at him from over his wing and shoulder. "Is that why you're pouting, Big Baby Boo?"
"You've gone mad." The chief muttered quietly, shaking his head at the wall.
Astrid smiled. "I think you look cute together." She stated firmly and then scooted even closer to Hiccup and Toothless. The dragon didn't really acknowledge her, too engrossed in the scene playing on the wall. But Hiccup looked at her in surprise before he grinned warmly and somewhat awkwardly.
"Well, try this on!" Not-Hiccup threw the helmet away and then tried to wrestle Not-Toothless by grabbing his neck. He made no difference whatsoever, though, and his dragon just looked around the area, unbothered and deadpan. "Oh, you feel it yet? Huh? Picking up on all my heartfelt remorse?" When Not-Hiccup jumped and wrapped his legs around Not-Toothless' neck as well, the dragon grumbled and got on two feet, taking the two of them to the cliff Not-Hiccup stood at earlier on. "Ah. Yeah. Oh, come on, come on. You-you wouldn't hurt a one-legged…"
He finally looked down and noticed the large drop below his feet. Not-Hiccup yelped and grasped Not-Toothless tighter, eyes wide. Toothless completely ignored the way the chief yelled at him, threatening to hurt him if he ever hurt his son or tried to kill him. Hiccup, though, just grimaced and then shook his head to himself before sending Toothless a questioning look. The dragon crooned at him tauntingly. On the wall, Not-Toothless did the same, almost sounding like he was laughing. Or mocking human laughter, at least. Chortling.
"Uh… y-you're right, you're right. You win. You win." Not-Hiccup amended and Not-Toothless looked like he was moaning the same words quietly, mockingly. Then he fell back, making Not-Hiccup laugh, before he flipped them over so that Not-Toothless was on top. He swatted at the rider playfully and Not-Hiccup smiled and rolled with the game. "He's down! And it's ugly! Dragons and Vikings… enemies again," He joked, breathing heavily. Not-Toothless just poked him over and over in the head, warbling happily. "Locked in combat to the bitter – ohhhhh!" Not-Hiccup slumped down in defeat, rolling his head from one side to the other playfully when Not-Toothless dropped his head on his chest.
And then Not-Toothless began to lick his face and Not-Hiccup's grin slipped away as he actually fought to get away from his dragon, raising his hands to try and stop the tongue from covering him in the thick layer of Not-Toothless' slobber. Not-Toothless looked like it was the greatest thing he'd ever done in his life, though. Toothless gave Hiccup a cunning, plotting look and the boy winced a little, looking sideways as if trying to figure out how to escape.
"Ugh!" Not-Hiccup flipped away and got onto his feet, trying to get rid of all of the drool covering his body. "You know that doesn't wash out."
And when Not-Toothless chortled at him again, the boy flicked some of the saliva onto the dragon's head, making him stop and abruptly, lick his paw and clean himself. Not-Hiccup used this time to get a notebook out of his armour. It looked just like the one he used in the last scene, where he searched for Toothless, only this time when he opened it, he revealed a complicated hand-drawn map with added pieces to it. With Not-Toothless' sticky drool, he attached a new piece of paper to the map and drew the island he saw before him.
Smiling again, Not-Hiccup looked over at the view. "So, what should we name it?" He looked over at Not-Toothless when the dragon warbled and watched as he began to chew on his armpit. He nodded. "Itchy Armpit, it is." He leaned down to draw and Not-Toothless watched him work. "What do you reckon, bud? Think we might find a few Timberjacks in those woods? The odd Whispering Death or two in the rocks? Who knows," He sounded more hesitant now. "Maybe we'll finally track down another Night Fury…" He lifted his gaze to stare into the dragon's eyes. Not-Hiccup looked out at the view again, looking sombre. "Wouldn't that be something?" He pursed his lips. "So what do you say? Just keep going?"
Not-Toothless crooned at the question but Hiccup seemed to ignore it in favor of staring oddly at Toothless. "Wait… are-are you the last Night Fury?" He gasped. At Toothless' soft, sad warble, he turned to look at Astrid. The girl looked sad too. Not as much as Hiccup did, but enough to make Toothless know that she cared, and that knowledge hurt her a little. The chief just ignored them, glaring at the wall like he wanted to burn it to the ground. And he probably would have given it a shot had he not thought this was the act of the Gods themselves.
The loud screech of a Deadly Nadder broke the solemn atmosphere and both the boy and the dragon turned away from the map to look over their shoulders at the approaching dragon. It didn't take long for the ones in the room to recognize the Viking riding on the back of the dragon – Astrid. Well, Not-Astrid. She didn't even get off her dragon before Not-Toothless ran towards them.
"Afternoon, milady." Not-Hiccup greeted and the hatchlings in the room choked and stared at the magical wall, their eyes wide. Toothless chortled at the way Hiccup's face seemed to gain colour very fast, clearly embarrassed by his future version. Astrid didn't fare much better, though she did glance over at Hiccup with this look in her eyes like she wasn't actually dismissing whatever the future was insinuating just yet. Hiccup just avoided her gaze altogether. "Where have you been?"
Getting off of her Nadder, Not-Astrid greeted Not-Toothless with a wide smile and let him sniff her hand for a moment before she moved on and he walked over to play with her Deadly Nadder. Not-Astrid walked lazily towards Not-Hiccup who went back to his map.
"Oh, winning races. What else?" It didn't mean much to Toothless, and by the looks on their faces, the others in the room had no idea what this meant either. He decided he didn't care enough. "The real question is where have you been." She put a hand on his shoulder and used it to get down to the ground. The way she sat close to him let Toothless know they were mates. If not in the present – they looked too stunned by their future versions' behaviour for that – then at least… someday. And Toothless couldn't like Hiccup and not his mate. Especially when she seemed nice enough. She was already making progress, even if it was a lot slower than Hiccup.
Glancing at Not-Astrid briefly, Hiccup snorted. "Avoiding my dad."
The chief bristled at that but still didn't turn around. Hiccup just sighed and slumped down in his place, clearly sad to hear that their relationship wasn't doing too well in the future either. Toothless wished he could help, but what could he possibly do? They were still mostly strangers. They haven't even TOUCHED yet. Hiccup kept his arms and legs tucked close to his body and Toothless remained curled around him, yet staying clear of actually grazing his skin. He felt like it would be too… abrupt. No, they had to wait. And swatting him once with his tail didn't count.
Smile falling, Not-Astrid sighed. "Oh, no. What happened now?"
The girl in the room flinched and sent a quick glance towards the chief. He didn't even move. She sighed in relief and turned back to see it when Not-Hiccup leaned away from the map and turned his focus to her. "Oh, you're gonna… you're gonna love this." He smiled at her. "I wake up, the sun's shining, and Terrible Terrors are singing on the rooftop," He handed her his pencil when she motioned for it and as he continued to speak, she drew on the map. "I saunter down to breakfast thinking all is right with the world, and I get," He got up to his feet and when he continued, he used the same voice he used last time to imitate his father, only a bit better. "Son, we need to talk."
He opened his mouth to keep going but Not-Astrid cut him off with her own weird imitation. She shifted her voice until it was high-pitched and nasal, the same way Hiccup's was, and began to speak, her shoulders moving the entire time in a way that made Toothless and Astrid laugh in the room. Hiccup was speechless. "Not now, Dad." She said and Not-Hiccup turned to look at her, looking confused. "I got a whole day of goofing off to get started."
They both laughed. "Okay, first of all, I-I don't sound like that. What is this character?"
"What the – " Hiccup blinked at the wall and then turned to Astrid, pouting. "What did I ever do to you?"
She just laughed in his face.
"And-and second," Not-Hiccup went on, oblivious to his past self ever talking. "What is that thing you're doing with my shoulders?" As if to demonstrate, Not-Astrid did it again and Not-Hiccup snickered a little while in the room Astrid was in stitches and Toothless chortled in Hiccup's face when the boy sent him an accusing glare, as if hurt by the Night Fury's decision to laugh at his expense. He didn't really mind, to be honest. He deserved it after making the two of them crash like that and then forgetting to apologize! "Yeah, that's-that's a really flattering impersonation. Anyway, he goes…" He adjusted his voice again and began to walk around with his chest puffed out and his legs taking larger steps. "You're the Pride of Berk, son, and I couldn't be prouder."
That made the two hatchlings and the Night Fury confused as they gaped at the chief. The chief who thought his son was a traitor now… was going to call him the Pride of Berk in the future, while he still had a dragon. Just like the rest, Toothless assumed. This time the Viking did turn back to look at all of them, his eyes wide and confused, just like them. But the steeliness in them was still present – he wasn't convinced just yet. So he stared straight ahead again. Hiccup sighed.
Once again, Not-Astrid cut Not-Hiccup off with her own impersonation of the boy. "Aw, thanks, Dad. I'm pretty impressed with myself, too."
He laughed. "When have I ever done that with my hands?" He inquired… while doing the very same motions. Hiccup looked at his arms self-consciously and slumped down in his place. Astrid just laughed.
"You just did!"
"Haha, okay. Just…" Not-Hiccup crouched down to be at her level when Not-Astrid began to shake her shoulders once more. Toothless snickered. "Hold… still." He sent her a mock-serious look that she tried to copy, succeeding for barely a moment before it turned into more of a pout. "It's very serious." He chuckled at her and then stepped back again, going back to his little performance. "You're all frown up, and since no chief could ask for a better successor I've decided – "
Not-Astrid's smile disappeared in favour of displaying the realization dawning on her. "To make you chief!" She called out excitedly and got up. In the room, Hiccup gaped at the magical wall while Astrid gaped at him. The chief sounded, once more, like he was choking. "Oh, my Gods! Hiccup, that's amazing!" She punched him in the chest and made the flipper on his back spring open. She laughed at that while he grunted in pain, not looking as pleased with the news as her.
"Y-you're gonna wear out the spring coil. The calibration is very sensitive." She nodded at his words though she didn't look like she cared much. Then the two of them found themselves knocked over when the two dragons who were chasing each other shoved them. Not-Astrid landed on top of the boy and quickly got off. He turned over to look at her. "Yeah, so…" He took her hand when she offered it to him and let her haul him back onto his feet. "This is what I'm dealing with."
Not-Astrid dusted off his shoulder. "What did you tell him?"
He smiled awkwardly. "I-I didn't. By the time he turned around, I was gone."
"Well, at least one thing hasn't changed, then," Astrid murmured, the shadow of a smile still on her face. Toothless snorted amusedly at that despite not really knowing what she was talking about – was Hiccup always avoiding his father? Was the idea nothing new to the Vikings in the room? If Hiccup's awkward blush meant anything, then yes. And the boy was aware of it as well.
Bending down, Not-Astrid pulled up the notebook with the map and then turned to face Not-Hiccup. "Huh. Well… it's a lot of responsibility. The map will have to wait for sure." She handed it to Not-Hiccup, whose smile faded the longer she spoke. "And… and I'll need to fly Toothless since you'll be too busy, but – " She stopped in her tracks and turned back to face the now downcast Not-Hiccup. Her own enthusiasm about the whole thing seemed to disappear as she gazed at the boy, her mouth opening as if to say something, yet no sound came. She looked lost.
Toothless himself crooned sadly. Not knowing Hiccup that well yet was one thing, but he didn't need to be a genius to realize that the boy and he had the best time together, in the sky. Flying was what made Hiccup the happiest, if the beginning of the scene was anything to go by, and it must be horrible to think of a future where he won't be able to do such a thing as much, if at all. Hiccup looked stunned like he couldn't even imagine such a time despite never actually going out on a flight just yet. Even Astrid looked like it hurt her to think about it. The only one who didn't look affected by this was the chief. The Viking was too busy looking a lot more content at the prospect of his son not riding Toothless, the dragon had to stop himself from growling at him. His muscles still tensed, though.
For a moment Not-Hiccup looked just as speechless as the girl, but then he looked down at the ground and back up at her. "It's not me, Astrid." He said solemnly. Toothless noted the fact that he was, in fact, shaking his shoulders as he spoke. He didn't laugh, though, since the mood was pretty sombre. "All those speeches and planning and running the village – that's his thing."
"I think you're missing the point." She leaned down when he looked away from her and let her head hang in front of him to try and catch his eyes. "I mean – chief! What an honour!" She leaned back, looking happy again. "I'd be pretty excited!"
He didn't share the sentiment. "I-I… I'm not like you. You know exactly who you are, you always have." He turned back to look over the cliff at the new land. Toothless purred softly and Hiccup smiled at him. "But… I'm still looking. I know that I'm not my father," He picked up his helmet again and occasionally glanced at Not-Astrid who began to follow him. "And I never met my mother, so… what does that make me?"
Not-Hiccup sat on the ground, and put his helmet back down – what was the point of that? – and picked up the pencil again. Not-Astrid sat down next to him and began to braid his hair – so she was the one who did it! Astrid blushed a little at her future self but otherwise looked pretty content. Hiccup was blushing as well, though his face showed a lot more hesitation. And Toothless had the feeling it didn't have anything to do with how close the two of them were. Rather, it must have been about what he was dealing with on that magical wall.
"What you're searching for… isn't out there, Hiccup." Not-Astrid held the end of the braid with one hand for a moment to keep it intact and put her other one on his chest, above his heart. "It's in here." He gave her a look but then she turned back to braiding his hair and he looked out once more. "Maybe you just don't see it, yet."
"Maybe…" Not-Hiccup said while Not-Astrid leaned forward to kiss him on the cheek. She recoiled back pretty quickly to wipe at her mouth and grunted in disgust at the drool of Not-Toothless still all over the boy. The girl in the room did the same, obviously sympathizing with herself.
The wall went black once more and the room was left silent. Toothless wasn't a human, obviously, so he didn't really mind too much about this whole thing with Hiccup becoming the chief, but it looked like the others thought it was a big deal because Hiccup curled into himself while Astrid and his father gazed at him, confusion and awe (mostly from Astrid) aimed at him from the two. It looked like they couldn't believe the boy before them could become someone who was worthy of becoming the chief. Now, Toothless wasn't too familiar with the current Hiccup he was protecting with his body, but he could tell the older guy on the wall was just like this Hiccup, only a bit more confident. He had most things figured out and was probably accepted by others a lot more. Now… now he lacked this part of himself.
All in all, the atmosphere was pretty light. Sure, the chief still didn't tell Hiccup anything, too stubborn for his own good. But Astrid seemed calm enough about everything now that they've seen more and Hiccup, despite being worried about the future, got over it pretty quickly, probably realizing he still had time to get over all of that. Toothless himself, again, didn't mind much about what bothered the humans, so to him, this scene was mostly just a way to watch who Hiccup and his mate were. Even if right now they weren't that close, they would be. Someday.
Just not as close as Toothless and Hiccup would be, he thought smugly.
