So, I decided to look at the background Light Furies in the Hidden World and point out how they differ from the main Light Fury and theorize what that might mean for the canon Light Fury species.
First up, the one that flies up and then falls back when Toothless and the main LF are about to swoop down.
Right off the bat we can notice some differences here...most notably the pointier tail fins. The wings also look to less smooth, and this Light Fury also seems to have longer ear plates. While some have said that these differences are down to motion blur and/or the angle, I really don't think they are, especially the pointier tail fins.
A lot of people seem to theorize that this is a male Light Fury, and that Light Furies (and possibly Night Furies) display sexual dimorphism...which would suck, because I mean, having females have heart shaped tails, weirdly smooth wings, and smaller sensory organs (because yeah, ear plates actually have uses, they aren't just there for display). Please no. Even though I hated the idea I still agreed at first that this was probably intended to be a male Light Fury considering some of the reasoning behind the main Light Fury's design, and I was pretty annoyed...but then...I remembered...
BUFF LIGHT FURY
Yeah, remember that other Light Fury that everyone thought was a male that was in the second trailer? I finally decided to go look at more screencaps of it now that the actual movie is out, and those extra few seconds that weren't in the trailer really help show just how much larger its ear plates are compared to the main Light Fury's and how its head/face isn't as rounded and does't seem to be as smooshed in...
Anyway, if you go by the "male Light Furies have pointier tail fins and wings" then it's a female!
Look at this buff queen!!! I remember when the first trailer came out and I was like "yeah idc what anyone says that's a mother with her adolescent offspring", and y'all it makes me so happy to feel like that might have been the intention...but, if I'm being completely honest with myself it's probably more likely that it's supposed to be a male Light Fury even if it is beside a younger Light Fury. Especially considering that in things released around the time of the first movie, there are bulkier dragons with different features that certainly seem like they're intended to be males, such as this Nadder from GotNF:
HOWEVER, with all that in mind, I'd like to present another theory I feel might be at least somewhat true, and makes me much happier than the alternatives: That there's some variation within Light Furies and other species such as Deadly Nadders, and that traits like longer ear plates, pointier tail fins, less smooth wings, etc. for Light Furies, or having an underbite, longer spines, etc. for Nadders are not due to sexual dimorphism. This helps explain why a lot of the male Nadders and Gronckles we've seen look the exact same as the females, why Fishlegs originally thought Meatlug was a male (even though I imagine Berk didn't know that much about dragons when GotNF happened, I still think a few months had to have passed at the very least, and have you seen one of those buffer/bigger Gronckles? lol), and the differences between the Light Furies.
anyway who's gonna make an OC that’s a buff female light fury with pointier wings and tail fins
i know i am
“We're no longer safe here” ~ “We have to fight for their freedom”
Okay guys, here we go, here’s my theory for HTTYD3 end I made 3 years ago...
Now the trailer came, I’ve seen a LOT OF SIMILARITIES with this fic so that’s why I want to share this chapter with you now. So please Guys, read it even if you don’t read the rest of my story. This chapter is really important to me and I want to know your opinion on it.
This will be my birthday gift to Mr. Dean DeBlois because this man inspires me so much...
I want to thanks my bestfriend because you’ll see his art in this chapter and also because this fiction is dedicated to him because like Toothless for Hiccup, he’s my bestfriend. I also want to thank all the HTTYD fanartists who illustrated this fiction @leffie-draws-fanart, @winxrus and also @raidesart ;) Thank you a lot guys! I also want to thanks all the people who helped me corrected it @wolfie-dragon-rider, @JoyOfBerK and @chiefhiccstrid who always supported me in this fic as well as @poppys-fanworld. A big thank you to my french friend @megtoons who helped me translate it! <3 And above all, a big thank you to my previous translators and to my dear translator @whosthatgal! Thank you so much girl <3
Now, enjoy it.
“Astrid, wake up!” I screamed, shaking her to force her to open her eyes.
She woke up, confused, and rubbed her eyes before the sound of the horns registered.
“Oh no…” she whispered.
She got up quickly and threw herself into my arms. We held each other tightly. I pushed her away gently and caressed her cheek with my thumb. I smiled bitterly to her. She held back a tear.
“We have to do it...”
“No, no! I don’t want us to be apart! Not again…” she cried while holding me really tight.
I rubbed her back to reassure her as best as I could, when my mom came in suddenly.
“Hiccup…” my mom began, but she faltered.
“Astrid, Astrid… Calm down,” I begged her. “Everything is gonna be okay…”
My words didn’t seem to comfort her much, and with regrets, I left her in my mom’s arms. I kissed her on the cheek.
“I love you, Astrid.”
“Me too, Hiccup,” she said sadly.
I addressed a grateful smile to my mother and got out of the house, taking Inferno with me. Toothless was not far behind. I had never seen the village so prepared; every person found their place and knew what they had to do. I ran to Heather’s hut and once there, I found her at Fishlegs’ side.
“Oh Hiccup, finally!” she exclaimed.
“We were waiting for you,” Fishlegs added.
“Sorry, I was with Astrid and—”
“It’s okay,” Heather said while putting her hand on my shoulder, understanding.
Snotlout and the twins joined us not too long after, coming from next door.
“So, how’s the situation?” I asked.
“Eret is leading the ships with his men, there are already a lot of casualties… and Drago’s army is almost at the village’s doors… Gobber and Erik are trying to slow them down as long as they can, but Drago will be here soon.”
“Thank you Fishlegs; we’ll be ready in time.”
“Okay, so I’m going back now!”
Heather walked close to him and kissed him passionately— then Fishlegs climbed on Meatlug with clumsiness. He was a bit shook, poor guy.
“Follow me!” Heather ordered.
We moved towards the village square, very closely followed by our respective dragons. Hundred of vikings, men and women, were waiting for us.
“Your army,” she declared with a smirk.
“Heather, I—”
“Come on chief, go on now…”
I was afraid. Afraid of taking the floor, afraid for all these people who were ready to give their lives for Berk and were counting on me, afraid of taking my responsibilities. Then, I thought about Astrid; she would have wanted me to be strong and to take it. So I did it:
“Northern peoples, vikings, men and women, the fight we’re going to lead will be difficult, there will be blood, there will be tears but don’t forget the reason of this fight and remind yourself of Drago Bludvist’s acts… Don’t forget who you fight for and above all, don’t forget what we fight for! We fight for peace! For giving a better place to our children! So fight for peace! Fight for Berk!”
I had grown in strength over my speech and I had yelled my last sentences. I never thought I’d be able to be so confident. The crowd answered me with war cries and swinging of weapons. Heather, Snotlout and the twins started it too, they motivated the troops even more. And they all cried my name… It was a strange feeling.
Once this fuss ended, everyone took their positions, and I found myself at the helm of a whole army with Heather as my right-hand.
“Form ranks and get ready!” I ordered.
I turned and found myself facing Heather who was looking at me with a shifty look.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Seems like you’re enjoying it.”
“Enjoying what?”
“Leading armies, of course!” she exclaimed like it was obvious.
“That’s not my thing Heather…”
“Oh come on Hiccup, admit that’s exciting!”
“I don’t see what’s exciting about leading a war, Heather. This is very serious.”
She pouted and lowered her head then she turned around and put a hand on my shoulder.
“You don’t look well.”
I answered nothing, on the spot. Of course I didn’t look well! With all this pressure that was on my shoulders, I had a hard time to think straight. Plus, I was very worried about Astrid. I hoped above all that nothing happened to her. So yes, I was totally stressed and I obviously didn’t feel right. I ended shaking my head.
“Hiccup, you know, I can understand why you’re worried, but you have to ignore it during battle, for your men and for Berk’s sake.”
“No, Heather, you can’t understand. Astrid means everything to me, she’s the love of my life, don’t you see? And we’re going to be parents… so no, I can’t ignore it because if I do, I’m forgetting what I’m fighting for, Heather…”
“Excuse me… I shouldn’t have said that… I know Astrid and you are having a really hard time and I—sorry.”
This time, I was the one to put my hands on her shoulders.
“Heather, it’s okay. It’s me, I’m easy to tease these days…”
She smiled.
“Even worse than Astrid…”
Now, we just had to wait.
Valka led me with the other women and the children to the Great Hall. We were walking fast and agitation was at its peak; children were scared and wouldn’t let go of their mothers’ hands. We crossed the village which was outfitting the warriors with weapons, we saw the troops get co-ordinated and the dragons get prepared to fight. How I longed to be with them… We finally reached the Great Hall. Valka pulled me in a remote corner of the hall and asked me to sit down.
“Thanks but I’d rather stand,” I replied abruptly.
I already had a hard time dealing with staying behind—she wouldn’t force me to sit down either. I didn’t belong here with all those poor people. I was supposed to protect us and I couldn’t do it by staying here… I was suddenly reminded of Hiccup’s words:
“Astrid, please, for once in your life, be reasonable… If you won’t do it for me, then do it for the baby.”
And he had put his hands on my belly. I instinctively put mine on it. Hiccup was right, it was unreasonable—but at the same time, staying here to do nothing but wait was eating away at me. I walked between the villagers’ little groups; some women were singing hopeful songs while others were telling old heroic legends to children. I stopped sometimes to listen to the fables too. I was talking with people and trying to reassure them and give them hope. I continued strolling into the Great Hall until I returned to Valka.
“You really have the making of a chief’s wife,” she said.
I smiled at her and came sit next to her to hug her.
“Thank you Valka…” I whispered.
But we were interrupted by the sound of horns. Drago had just penetrated Berk’s compound.
“Toothless, are you okay bud?” I worried.
“What is it?” Heather asked.
“He felt something…”
“DRAGONS!” the troops shouted.
Heather and I raised our heads simultaneously. Armoured dragons were populating the sky. Gobber and Erik came running, followed by their men, yelling that Drago was coming. Heather and I reacted right away by commanding the dragon riders and managing the air attack. Snotlout and the twins did the same. Gobber and Erik took the lead of the land forces. Drago’s men moved by the hundreds towards the center of the village while destroying everything in their path. The fight had just begun.
I’ve never seen a war before and even less participated in one. The concept of battle was all new for me, so when I saw the thirty armoured dragons coming—that I had trained in Göteborg—it took me time before I gave my orders. I examined them for a moment and that’s when I knew something was wrong.
“Wait!” I cried, stopping my men with a hand signal.
“What? What is it again?” Snotlout grumbled.
“Their eyes… Look at their eyes! They’ve been conditioned!” I exclaimed.
“You mean—”
“Yes… They’ve been programmed to kill us…” I whispered.
I addressed all the dragon riders out loud.
“Remember what we told you in training? Well… It’s is all the more true now! These dragons are fearsome so be even more vigilant!”
“Charge!” Heather finished.
And we leapt to the attack. We killed dragons. I followed Toothless in each of his movements, fighting against dragons deprived of soul and much stronger than I have imagined. However, I didn’t feel to be actor of the battle, Toothless was the one to fight to protect me. I was just a spectator of all this killing, it was all going so fast… I couldn’t analyse the situation anymore… until I fell.
Toothless and I fell down in the middle of the one-on-one skirmishes that separated our army from Drago’s. I was blown away by the violence I was seeing—I’d never seen men fighting like that before. A warrior didn’t hesitate to stab a sword into his opponent’s back or separate him from one of his limbs. Drago’s men and mine were killing each other in front of me. The smell of blood was everywhere and the warriors’ cries blended into those of their victims; the noise reverberated across the battlefield.
One of my enemies speed up to me, and dismounted me swiftly from my dragon. I could only count on myself to cope. He hit my arm with his arm, the shot was straight and so was the pain.
Thankfully, he had only slightly hit me thanks to my shoulder protection, which had cushioned the blow. I drew my sword in the second that followed, I needed to retaliate quickly before he could gain the upper hand. I struck at his arm and successfully freed myself from his grip. I ran through the fray, not without difficulty. I used my sword to push through the crowd and took a look to the right, to the left, looking for Toothless, but I didn’t see him anywhere. In my frantic sprint through the battlefield—inevitably—I fell. I really blamed my prosthetic leg at times. I started to get trampled when I felt a hand pulling my collar—this is it, this is the end.
“What are you doing here, Hiccup?!”
“Gobber?” I asked, opening my eyes.
He put me on the ground.
“So?” he insisted.
“Yeah… uh… I fell down and—Toothless he… I don’t know where he is…”
“Well then, let’s get some altitude, and we can find him, can’t we?”
I clambered onto Grump behind him, and we flew over Berk to find my dragon. The battle raged on, but from the air we could see that Berk was resisting well. However, the enemy troops weren’t backing down in the slightest—and I still couldn’t see Drago. But where was he hiding for Thor’ sake? I couldn’t have the time to think about this question, Toothless was there, right below us, and he was about to be shot down by Drago’s trappers.
“Right there!” I shouted while pointing the finger at him.
Grump steered us down to him right away. I stopped an arrow from hitting its target and shooting him in the heart. I ran to him to jump on his back and pat him affectionately on the head.
“It’s gonna be okay bud, I’m here… Come on, taking off!” I screamed.
Gobber did the same and we dodged a final barrage of arrows. He addressed me with a nod and went back with Toothless to the other riders. I examined my dragon on the way and didn’t find anything alarming, only a small notch on his left ear and some other scratches. He saved himself but for how long again? If we hadn’t arrived in time, he could have been dead by now… If I couldn’t protect my own dragon, how could I protect all the others from Drago? In all the commotion, I almost forgot the reason why he was fighting this war: he was attempting to cast the dragons from the surface of the Earth! So I noticed the battlefield where the men were blustering was covered by an infinite number of dead dragons’ carcasses. The battle had just begun.
It had been more than five hours since the battle began outside. My patience had its limits, and this situation was really pushing them. I stopped bouncing my leg and stood up and began walking round and round in the big room with my arms crossed.
“Astrid, please, sit down…”
“No, I don’t want to sit! It’s unbearable, I can’t take it anymore not knowing what is going on! I wanna know!” I said, fed up.
“Astrid… Calm down… you said you had cramps at the bottom of your belly, are they gone?”
“No… it’s still hurting… and the baby doesn’t want to stop kicking, it’s really annoying…”
“That’s because it can feel that you’re stressed… One more reason to sit down.”
“No! I don’t feel comfortable when I’m sitting… Ouch…”
I gritted my teeth, I didn’t want to be weak, I couldn’t be.
“Astrid…”
“It’s okay. I’m fine,” I said, catching my breath. “I’m gonna ask the men if they have more information outside.”
“Astrid, you already asked them less than a hour ago and they told you they didn’t have any information…”
“But maybe now they do?” I said, a little upset.
I went in the direction of the middle of the Great Hall but before even walking two steps, I had a sudden wave of nausea due to the cramps getting closer and closer to each other. Adding to this, the kicking didn’t stop. I held my belly with one hand and leaned against a pillar with the other. My head started to spin, and I heard Valka’s voice calling me as she rushed to my side.
“My… my head hurts… the cramps are getting worse and worse,” I whimpered.
Valka took me by a shoulder and forced me to sit when we got close to a bench. She put her hand on my forehead and wiped it with a handkerchief.
“You are burning up and covered with sweat… maybe you’re—”
She didn’t have the time to finish that I screamed while holding onto her shoulders. It was like the pain was penetrating my stomach. I felt a hot fluid pouring down and wetting my legging.
“Oh my gods!” Valka cried, smiling. “Astrid! The baby is coming!”
I was hit by confusion.
“What? Now? Like right now?” I sobbed.
“I’m gonna bring Gothi!”
“No, no stay with me, Valka! I’m so sorry for earlier… stay!”
She stayed by my side and ordered someone else to bring Gothi.
“You’ll see, everything will be fine ”, she said with a calm voice.
Only, I was more afraid than anything. I didn’t understand what was happening to me… I wasn’t usually that emotional.
“But it’s too early! I’m not ready—and Hiccup should be here! Oh my gods, I won’t be able to do this without him… Valka, please, go bring Hiccup!” I sobbed.
“Astrid, calm down. I’m gonna go, okay?”
I nodded and Gothi arrived with two other women, healers maybe. Valka left me alone with them and went to find Hiccup.
“I’ll be back in no time! ” she said.
I stood not without difficulty and went to a corner of the hall, safe from any nosy looks. They put me on one of the hall’s tables where they had many layers of sheets.
“And now, breathe!”
“Snotlout!” I screamed.
I couldn’t see him through the flames that were eating the stables. Catapult attacks had set the stables on fire and we were trying to save trapped baby dragons inside who were too young to fly. Everybody got out with babies in their arms except Snotlout, who was still inside. I screamed his name again—no answer.
“Hiccup, we still need to evacuate all these dragons…” reminded Heather.
“But we can’t just leave him!”
“Hiccup...”
Just then we saw a shape emerging in the midst of the flames—it was Snotlout, not without burns, but alive.
“Snotlout! Oi, oi… oi!” he chanted, punctuating each word with a cough.
“Snotlout! I thought you were…”
“Dead? Oh come on Hiccup…” he said dryly.
I was relieved—Snotlout was safe and we could continue our improvised rescue. We were making our way as fast as we could from the stables to the Dragon Academy, when suddenly I saw my mom riding Cloudjumper towards us at full speed.
“Hiccup!” she yelled.
She finally drew up by my side.
“Mom? What are you doing here?”
“Hiccup, you need to come. It’s urgent…” she began.
“But I can’t leave the battle! I’m commanding an army, and…”
“Astrid is giving birth!”
“Uh...what?”
“You’re gonna be a dad!” she smiled.
“What, now? But I…”
“Go, Hiccup!” Heather reassured me. “I’ll take the lead, don’t worry. Go!”
I let my friends go under Heather’s command and I joined my mom. We headed in Astrid’s direction, flying once more over the battle that was under us. We finally arrived behind the Great Hall; my mom invited me inside and kept our dragons outside, not without Toothless’ disagreement. Dodging our way through the crowd of elders and children, we made our way to the back corners of the hall where curtains, made out of two sheets, were standing. I stopped before going in.
“Go on, go, she’s waiting for you,” said my mom before pushing me in.
Astrid was lying on a table, legs spread and her back raised; she was in pain. I ran to join her by her side. When she saw me, she let out her tears. I held her tightly against me.
“Hiccup… I was so scared for you… I’m sorry…”
“Shhh… I’m here now,” I whispered while caressing her face.
“Okay Astrid, let's go again,” ordered one of the women who were assisting Gothi. “One, two, three… push!”
Astrid’s face twitched when she did what the healers told her to do, but she shook her head left to right, completely helpless.
“I can’t!” she moaned.
I didn’t know what to do to help her, so I took her hand and I sustained her back to support her.
“Come on babe, you can do it!” I cheered.
So she pushed once again while tightening her hold on my hands, letting out a long painful scream before taking a breath again.
“We can see its head!” said Valka.
Astrid turned her head to me with a smile, and I smiled back to her.
“Just a little more Astrid…” I said rubbing her back.
“One more time, push!”
Astrid pushed with all the strength she had, she yelled in pain and soon, her screams were joined by other, smaller cries—those of a baby, our baby.
“It’s a girl, congratulations!” said one of the women.
Gothi cut the last thing that linked our daughter to her mother and showed us a little newborn, dirty and covered in blood. Astrid didn’t even have time to catch her breath before Gothi put the little girl in her arms. Astrid took her carefully and held the child gently against her chest. A big smile drew on her lips, she was filled with joy.
“Hiccup… we made this…” she sighed, happy.
(art by @winxrus)
I caressed her hair and I kissed her cheek, I was the happiest man in the world.
“I’m so proud of you Astrid… you fought till the end.”
“Thank you Hiccup, thank you.”
I was about to answer when a massive sound echoed in the room—it was an explosion.
“I’m gonna see what that was.”
“Hiccup!” yelled Astrid.
I got out and saw men trying to reinforce the main door which had just been damaged.
“Hiccup! What are you doing?” my mother exclaimed.
“I need to see what happened outside!”
I went out from the Great Hall and hurried to go before it. When I finally reached it, Heather was there with a few men to protect the Great Hall’s doors from… Drago’s attacks. He was on a huge dragon and was laughing out loud about my men’s fate. I joined them to help and Drago addressed me.
“Eh! Finally, here’s the Dragon Master! I thought you’d never come out of your hole…” he said.
“Drago…”
“Now, let’s finish it!”
He had yelled the last words. He started to shoot at anything that moved but his true target was me. I turned my head to see where Heather was when I heard her screaming:
“Hiccup! Watch out!”
She stood in front of me before I took Drago’s shot. The violence of the impact drove me about ten meters away, I searched to scout the area but I could barely see and then there was nothing.
It was dark, I hated the dark. I was afraid of the dark because I couldn’t see anything and it made me nervous so I lit a candle. I was alone at home. Daddy wasn’t home yet. So I waited for him while drawing. And one hour later, I heard the house’s heavy door opened, I hurried in the direction of the door to see Daddy.
“Daddy!” I yelled.
He took me in his arms and hugged me tightly. I loved when Daddy held me like that.
“I came to say goodbye, Son. Daddy’s leaving for a very long trip, okay?”
I sulked, I didn’t like when he was leaving for a long amounts of time.
“Why are you always leaving for a long time Daddy?”
“Hiccup, you know it’s to find the Dragons’ Nest. I have to go for a long time, that’s how it is. But Gobber will be here.”
“But I want you to stay with me!”
“Son…”
I didn’t want to listen to him anymore, I went back to my room to lock myself in it. I sat down on my bed, brought my legs against me and started to cry. I was sad Daddy left, he never listened to me…
After a while, I heard big footsteps on the stairs, Daddy was climbing. Quickly, I dried my tears with my arm and I put myself under the heavy blankets. Daddy entered with a candle in his hands. He knew I was afraid of the dark. He put it on the bedside table next to me. He leaned next to me and kissed my forehead. I took him in my little arms and held him very tight.
“Good night Daddy.”
“Good night Son.”
I put my head on the pillow and he tucked me in. Then he bounced back and left in the door’s direction but before he got outside, I addressed him one last time before he got away.
“I love you Daddy.”
I heard the door shut.
“Me too Hiccup, me too.”
I felt my eyes about to open but I fell into nothingness again.
Toothless was slowly moving towards me with those terrifying eyes. I begged him to stop but he kept going.
“Stop!”
That’s when my dad came out of nowhere.
“Son!” he cried out.
“Dad! No!” I screamed.
My dad jumped in front of me and took Toothless’ kill shot.
My dad had saved my life, and Heather had exactly done the same thing.
I opened my eyes. Toothless was over me and protecting me with his wings. I looked around me and saw Heather down, a few meters away. I stood up quickly and ran to her. I took her in my arms, she was still breathing but her face was pale and her eyes almost closed.
“Heather! Please, stay with me, Heather!” I shouted.
“Hiccup…” she whispered.
“Yes?” I sobbed.
“Thank you…” she said, closing her eyes.
“No! No, Heather! Don’t leave me! Heather!”
Heather was dead in my arms. No words could define my pain. She was like a sister to me. I cried while holding her her cold, dead body against me, inconsolable.
I was tired of always being protected, my dad, Heather, Gobber, Toothless, Astrid… I couldn’t let anything like that happen again, it was out of the question. I was going to put an end to this, once and for all.
Fishlegs and the other riders came shortly after the incident, he was distraught. Enough people were taking care of Heather now, so I could go. Some people tried to stop me, but I was more determined than ever. I mounted Toothless and took off at full speed. My goal: find Drago.
Toothless and I looked around us, but Drago was not hard to find. He was nested on the edge of the island with his gigantic dragon. Once I was close enough to him, I asked Toothless to fire his most powerful plasma blast, and it made him fall from his dragon.
Toothless landed only few feet away from him. I climbed down and threw my fire sword on his cutting pike. I didn’t miss my target, I took his stake, got my sword back and threatened him with both, making him recoil. He raised his hands while laughing unrestrained, insanely.
“So? What’s the Dragon Master is gonna do now that he has weapons in his possession?” he sneered.
He could laugh as much as he wanted, but he didn’t scare me anymore. I moved towards him, more intimidating this time.
“You had no right! She didn’t do anything!” I shouted. “She was innocent!” I called out.
The rage tensed my words up.
“You will pay for what you’ve done Drago… For everything you’ve done…”
I rushed over to him and stabbed his stake right in his heart. He instinctively reached down to weapon that had sealed his fate, and staggered back. He fell down from the bank and sank into the ocean.
I had done it in anger, but part of me was still celebrating. I just put an end to the war.
I flew away on my dragon’s back to the Great Hall, where the doors were standing open. I rushed inside to meet Astrid, who was waiting for me in tears. We held each other tightly.
“Hiccup… What’ve you done?” she sobbed.
I put my head on her shoulder, powerless and lost, on the verge of tears.
“I killed Drago…” I confessed with an inaudible voice.
She slightly moved away from me to put her hands on my shoulders and read my face.
“Hiccup…”
“I know, I know… It wasn’t how I wanted it to end! But Astrid, I’m tired of being protected… I’m the one that has to protect you! A chief protects his own…”
She brought me back into her arms to hold me tight against her once again.
“What are you going to do now?” she asked after a while.
“I need to see our daughter first, then I’ll tell you.”
She took my hand and I followed her to the other side of the hall, my mother was waiting for us, our baby in her arms. She gave the baby to Astrid, who then gave her to me. I held her carefully, rocking her gently.
“Hello, you…” I said, gently whispering.
My nerves disappeared and a tear rolled down my cheek, I was so happy.
“My little dragon…” I smiled. “I already love you so much if you only knew… Daddy will always be with you… always…” I said, leaving a small kiss on the top of her head.
“Heather. Her name is Heather,” Astrid inquired, bending over me while putting her head on my shoulder by holding me against her.
“Heather…” I smiled, moved.
…
“Are you sure about it?” she asked.
“Yeah, I’m sure Astrid. I will not go back on my decision.”
“All right, then.”
“Let’s go.”
I grasped her waist and we moved outside, hand in hand, to the village center. Astrid let me take the place on the small platform before the other villagers gathered around me. I waited for silence and I began.
“People of Berk, today is a day of mourning for all of us here. We’ve won the war against Drago, but the sadness and pain he brought us will be with us for a long time. A chief protects his own, and today, I failed to protect you. I’ve been told often that I was a peaceful man, but I killed a man today. I was supposed to bring our worlds together, but look at this mess! Hundreds dragons and men died today! This kind of bloodshed will never happen again, because I can still make one decision to protect us all.”
I paused.
“I declare dragons exiled.”
Disagreements erupted immediately among the villagers, but I kept going, raising my voice.
“There have always been men like Drago and there always will be. If he’s not the one to exterminate the dragons, somebody else will! As long as dragons live with us, they won’t be safe and neither will we. That’s why I’m asking for this exile, for the common good. I know it’s hard for you—it’s hard for me too—but it’s for the best, believe-me.”
A deafening silence started to fall when, suddenly, they began to make a sign I easily recognized. It was my father’s sign, a fist raised to the top. Soon, the whole village made the Viking’ salute. They just approved my decision.
Farewells were extremely difficult to make. Every vikings and their dragons had met on the middle of the village to say goodbye one last time. It was very emotional to see the love we had for them expressed like that. I wasn’t exiling them for nothing, and my people knew it. If we wanted to save them from extinction, that was the right thing to do.
I arrived at Toothless’ side. Astrid and Stormfly were close to him, their arms full. I caressed the head of my dragon while looking straight in the eye, I smiled faintly at him. I presented him the auto-tail I made for him and Astrid had remade. He started to step back, I held him back.
“Hey… Toothless… I know you don’t like what is going on. But I’m doing this for your sake and you know it,” I sniffed.
He approached and rubbed up against me, then he licked my head. I slightly laughed and hugged him once again.
“Thanks Bud.”
I installed his new tail and made sure it was working before standing in front of him.
“Here you go. It’ll serve you more than me…” I said, joking.
Astrid came behind me and moved towards Toothless, wrapping her arms around him.
“Goodbye Toothless, thank you for everything you’ve done for us…” she murmured.
She relaxed her grip and put her hand on my shoulder before stepping behind me again. I took Toothless in my arms one last time.
“I will never forget you, Bud. You’re my best friend… I’ll see you in Valhalla…”
He seemed to begrudge and made a sad noise. I finally released him and stepped back to find Astrid’s embrace. She grabbed my waist while holding me tight against her, supporting me as best she could.
Every dragon gathered around Toothless, who gave me a last look before flying away. All the others followed him and few wingbeats later, all the vikings were already at the island’s borders, calling to their dragons one last time while waving goodbye. Two tears rolled down my cheeks as I watched the dragons flying away forever.
...
Four years later…
“Daddy! Tell me more about dragons!” Heather exclaimed.
“Heather, it’s getting late…”
“Please!” insisted the brown-haired and blue-eyed girl.
Astrid came inside the room and sat down on the bed, next to her daughter.
“Come on Hiccup, if it makes her happy!” Astrid added.
I sighed. I couldn’t refuse anything to the two greatest women of my life.
“Fine, what do you want to know?”
“Tell me how you became friend with Toothle!”
I laughed heartily.
“Ah sweet heart, it’s Toothless…”
“Oops… Sorry,” she apologized while smiling.
I came closer to Astrid and her and started my tale.
