Chapter Text
Waves streaked below them, the dragons quiet apart from the occasional wing flap. It was still summer, but a layer of grey, lazy clouds now filled the sky, and the air streaking across the dragons’ hide was colder as a result. They were now flying higher, the last of the hidden world having just descended below the horizon. Their fear of being followed had proven unfounded, the sky above the entrance having remained empty. As had the ocean, a seemingly endless expanse of water covering the world below them, offering no shelter to the dragons that had been chased away from their home.
“There are a dozen islands not far from the hidden world,” said Dart quietly. “Some of them are covered with foliage. If Hookfang and his army arrive, we will see them before they see us.”
The nightlight seemed embarrassed, looking away from the rest of the dragons, especially her parents. The night fury and her mate seemed displeased, though they didn’t say anything. Dart gave an angry bark. “What?! Should I just not tell you?”
They needed somewhere to land, it wasn’t a hard decision. Dart now leading them, the group of dragons swerved towards the west.
The island wasn’t very large, about half the diameter of the hidden world’s entrance, and true to Dart’s words, covered by a forest, dense underbrush further shielding from sight. It also seemed completely free of humans, lacking a ship on the shore that would indicate a temporary visit and the gaps in the vegetation that came from a more permanent settlement. Toothless would have been worried about dragon hunters if the lack of dragons to hunt hadn’t ended their existence twenty years ago.
The night fury sighed, remembering what had happened. Oh, right.
They began descending, soon met by a steady howl. It took a moment for him to recognize the sound, wind blowing against trees. He had spent far too much time in that hole, yearning to get out. But this wasn’t how he had expected to leave.
Toothless looked at Light. A question had been on his mind for the majority of the flight, and by the looks they had been exchanging, it was clear that she knew about it… and disagreed. A large, flat stone jutted out into the sea, providing a landing site that didn't require passing through the forest’s canopy, and the two had barely touched it with their claws before they began the argument, the words ‘New Berk’ and ‘too dangerous’ being uttered at the exact same time.
“They might be friendly, dust up their dragon feeders and give us stables,” said Light, before shaking her head. “Or they might kill us.”
The night fury growled. “Hiccup will not allow anything of the sort to happen.”
She looked at him, those baby blue eyes stunning as usual, yet sad. The rest of the dragons who had landed had begun to make their way towards the vegetation, but now halted themselves. “You don’t even know if he is alive .”
For the second time that day, a metaphorical spear planted himself in his chest. He knew Hiccup was a human, knew just how fragile and fleeting they were. The dragon had tried to ignore that possibility, push it out of his mind. But right now, reality was forcing him to acknowledge it, and he felt like he was struggling to breathe. “I’ll go in. Camouflaged. Alone,” said Toothless hastily, looking towards the sea, away from his mate. “You won’t be at risk.” He had to check. The dragon stepped on his paws nervously, feeling ready to spread his wings once more. He couldn’t make himself turn towards his mate.
The light fury poked his neck with her snout, and he forced himself to stand still, enough to listen. “What if you die?” He looked at her, her white form stark visible against the surrounding rock, forests, ocean, well, everything. She pawed at the ground, a dry snort leaving her. “I left the hidden world once, got caught by hunters. And I’ve got four hatchlings to take care of.” Pleading eyes turned to him. “Please don’t leave.”
He turned towards the hatchlings, noticing how they seemed extremely offended. The night fury nodded, she was right.
He forced himself to relax, gave a long bark, and shook himself off the urge to fly. Soon enough, he found his side pressing towards his mate’s, the two looking at the sky to ensure it was free of any pursuer before following the other dragons into the forest. Hiccup was alive, he wanted to believe it, but they couldn’t afford to find out the opposite the hard way, not until the four young dragons learned to survive in the wild. His chest stung, fear for the small human and guilt for his family only adding to Hookfang’s betrayal, but his body was still working, numbly walking alongside the light fury as they explored the island.
“Also, you got me thrown out of there, this is your fault. Getting yourself killed is cheating, I expect you to make up for it,” said Light. Toothless rumbled something in response, lost in his own thoughts.
He stopped in his tracks before giving an indignated bark at the light fury as she moved away through the trees. “What was that supposed to mean?!”
Leaves crunched under her paws as Dart wandered around the island, thinking about the future, and about what had brought them to where they were now. She had suggested for her and her siblings to be sent out to explore what the humans (and boars) were up to, and had been promptly shut down. Though how much would they have been able to do otherwise? Find the ship with a ballista in advance maybe, see where it came from. Would it have helped? They had been thrown out by other dragons, not humans. And now, they were outside, their prospects highly uncertain, because she really did not know much about this world. Her visits here were too few, and the space to explore too big.
She saw a sturdy looking tree in front of her and leapt onto it, finding herself on the wide upper branches, the canopy still above her. Cautiously, she climbed a little higher, letting her head poke the top of the leaves, allowing her a wide view of the island, the surrounding ocean, and the sky. It was empty, no dragon sent by Hookfang searching here for the moment. If he had sent any dragons at all, maybe he was fine with their family staying out of his way forever. The nightlight took a big breath.
“Freedom!” she roared joyously, her head raised towards the sky.
The nightlight leapt down and set herself a full speed run between the trees, her cheeks tensed in a smile and her nostrils flaring as she breathed the smooth, open air of the overworld. She was finally here again!
The dragon’s paws carried her over the rough terrain, stepping through light vegetation and leaping over anything that couldn’t be moved, bouncing over soft ground, unlike the rock that she had been living with her whole life. She could hear the chirping of birds in front of her, and their wingbeats as they took flight when she streaked beneath them.
Finally, she found herself next to a small stream, and let herself fall onto the muddy ground, panting and happily chuckling at it all. She had said that they wouldn’t be able to stay in the hidden world forever, and she had been right . “I have missed this place.”
Dart let herself drink from the stream. Even water tasted different up here. Devoid of the disgusting salt and other minerals that came from exposure with the rock, or even mixing with seawater, and just pure rain, mixed with leaves and the mud that just made it taste more alive.
She took a breath, and her body froze. That smell . Her ears picked the sound, a creature whose breathing somehow managed to sound angry. She recognized it, just as the last time she had felt it. She lifted her gaze above from the water, her body still and tense, and saw it. The boar, just as the one who had found her the last time she was on this island. It was looking at her angrily, a bulky body covered with rough, dark brown fur. Dart bent her paws, putting herself in a fighting stance. Her teeth bared, she growled at it.
It was late afternoon, the air was beginning to cool. Surrounding him were leaves, things the approximate colour of his eyes, loosely attached to branches and moving in the wind. Things he had never seen before as the only other visit to the overworld had been to new berk, which was further north and only offered coniferous. It was colder too, filled with smells that he had never experienced before… well, apart from Dart when she was brought back after having escaped, which was to be expected. This place also was his only home now.
Ruffrunner felt devastated. He wanted to just curl up, sleep, and wake up in his warm, comfortable, real home. His sleeping slab. Would he ever see her again? But he knew this wouldn’t help him. For a short moment, he tried to cut back his emotions, and just objectively acknowledge his situation.
Somehow, that made it worse.
His stomach was rumbling, having eaten nothing since his father had called for them to go after the captor, and he had spent plenty of energy in that flight. The dragon shook his head and walked out on the beach, knowing that his chances of finding fish were very low on land.
And while Dart had agreed to bring him fish for another month, his useless sister had disappeared, or was simply incapable of doing so outside. It meant that she would owe him two months of fish in the not too distant future, but that did little to soothe his belly now.
Their father was guarding the sky and ready to warn the rest of them, and he stepped over the wet sand quickly, until the water was just below his ankles. He appreciated that the water was warm. He didn’t appreciate the water’s quantity or its apparent lack of fish. He waded around the shallows fruitlessly for some time, before hunger forced him to take flight, flying further from shore, if maintaining himself in the range where Toothless watched the sky.
There . A Pack of cod, just below the surface. The nightlight threw himself at it, his belly yearning for sustainment, and he didn’t think twice about reaching head first into the waves. Underwater, his teeth snapped in the direction of the closest cod but it evaded, so he threw himself at the next…
The nightlight felt shocked as he reemerged with his jaws empty. He had felt so ready. Thinking back, the nightlight gave a frustrated bark, it had been a rookie mistake. I committed to an attack too early, diving in the water too soon and letting the fish escape , concluded the nightlight. He looked down beneath him again, ready to try a more precise strike.
The nightlight blinked, realising the awful, unfair, and treacherous fact. But it was still a fact out here, away from the shallow rivers of his home, and it was a fact that now made hunting this stim of cod impossible. Fish can go underwater .
Laura bounded happily after Pouncer, who was leading her somewhere on the island just as the light began to fade. For a short moment the two ran among the vegetation, fighting for speed in the new environment. Having to watch out for twigs and leaves and branches that appeared was a challenge, yet one that was very much enjoyable to face. Finally, the forests began clearing out as the sea appeared. The light fury suddenly yelped as Pouncer became still in front of her, and her paws skidded against rock in an attempt to break her body from its collision course.
She did stop thanks to Pouncer kindly absorbing her momentum as she hit his side. Now still, she looked around, seeing how they were where they had first landed on the island, a flat stone that jutted out in the sea towards the east, this one now dotted with small waves in the fading wind of the evening. The two of them were just besides the water, the male having nearly been knocked into it by the impact. The nightlight gave her back a kind rub with his tail. “Beloved Laura. You know that I’m the one who’s supposed to make you wet?”
The light fury purred and pushed her snout into Pouncer’s side. With all of her strength and without warning, making the nightlight fall on his side into the shallow water. “You were saying?” she mocked happily, giving a challenging grin to the raging nightlight, before quickly jumping backwards as he bounded towards her.
The sounds of claws against rock and wings moving heard rose as she hopped swiftly on the flat stone, evading strike after strike against the frustrated male. But she wanted more, and whipped her tail, attempting to hit Pouncer on his side…
She yelped as the nightlight caught her tail and the ground skidded beneath her, and she fell on his belly, with Pouncer on top of her in the next second. She attempted to wiggle herself free, but found paws in her way at every attempt, and so opened her jaws, ready to strike at the limbs that were holding her back-
The two stopped for a moment, Pouncer’s toxic green eyes meeting her own, her mouth open, teeth extended, ready to tear apart his paw as Light’s teeth had done mere hours before. She gave a small laugh and relaxed, feeling the pressure holding her down disappear as Pouncer did the same, letting himself slide down her body until he was lying just beside the light fury.
“I would have gotten away,” she stated contently, to an immediate outraged bark.
“If it had been a real fight, you wouldn’t have been alive at that point!”
“Except you wouldn’t hurt a fish if it had hindquarters!”
“That’s just an exaggeration!”
After Pouncer and her had spent a considerable amount of time with similarly useful discussions about fighting, the light fury let herself breathe, looking at her surroundings, the soft sounds of the dark sea, the smell of algae mixing with the one of the forest behind them. “Why are we here?” she asked curiously, remembering how the nightlight had led her to this place, but had been thrown into the water before having time to explain why. Upon this question, the male rose to his paws, looking at her with a soft, almost pitying smile.
“You are used to the hidden world, hiding in the underground, and are afraid and frail in this new place,” he began, and the female raised an eyebrow. Was he trying to be romantic?
“But I want to teach you that there is beauty to be found here. Life here is dominated by the sun, and every day, right before it sets, it gives us a marvellous spectacle of colours that I want you two witness…” continued the nightlight solemnly, before letting a tail caress her hind, which made her raise her second eyebrow and observe him intriguely. “…which is nearly as stunning as these.”
But the nightlight didn’t notice it, any train of thought he had planned to follow about the sun having apparently been derailed as he talked, his steadfast shape narrating calmly into the night. “You have many qualities, and these are one of them. To me, they are just the right amount of meaty, soft and-”
The light fury cleared her throat and pointed in front of them at the dark sea and the few stars that were starting to become visible in the nothing-but-dark-blue sky. “The sun sets in the west. It’s not there.”
There was a moment of silence before she burst out in laughter as the mortified nightlight, who had in all of this somehow managed to miss looking at the sky and she nuzzled him in consolation, as the male could do nothing but stand still in shame as the thing that had managed to keep him so distracted was painfully obvious. The light fury felt herself heat up from laughing, thinking about how it really was a great day.
Laura blinked. She had faced a hundred dragons that day, been thrown out of her home, and was heading towards an uncertain future. It was not a great day. Her life was changed, possibly forever.
But thanks to her idiot, she was alive, and the only things in her head were the stupidity of males and a moderate pride, because meaty and soft, normally contradicting, but apparently she had just the right amount of it… she felt the male’s warm smell, looked at him, his silhouette against the darkening open sky.
The light fury swayed her tail in playful strokes, her snout just touching Pouncer’s ears, and she breathed on his neck, teeth sliding out of their gums slowly, menacingly. She gave a low purr. “Say this to Gin and Cognac and I am going to kill you .”
A new day dawned, and Light gathered the hatchlings beneath some tall trees, the underbrush thin here due to the canopy blocking sunlight. During the first day, they had separated to explore the island. “What did you find?” she asked, her mate by her side.
Ruffrunner gave a whine, pawing at his stomach. “I found out that fish can go underwater,” he rumbled sarcastically. Light nodded, recalling a similar experience when she had left the hidden world.
“A boar,” answered Dart flatly, and Light’s ears perked up. That was incredible! Hunting was difficult, and in only one day, her hatchling had managed to- “Or rather, that boar found me,” corrected the nightlight, displaying a wound on her right flank this time, making Light immediately yelp and jump to her daughter’s side. But the wound seemed well cleaned, and Dart shook her head, pushing Light away with her tail “At least it’s symmetric,” said the nightlight sourly.
There were two dragons left, and these seemed not having followed the conversation in the least, Pouncer looking at Laura with an soft, amused smile, with the light fury shaking her head, similarly amused but more embarrassed. Her offspring looked up at her and gave a light clearing of his throat. “Unforgettable memories,” he barked simply before his face was mercifully hidden and pushed backwards by Laura’s tailfins. “But no food.”
Light blinked. Her low expectations had been flattened.
She huffed, and began heaving up her meal, fish that she had caught the previous day, leaving less than she would have liked to herself, with just over a portion being dropped on the leaves. Her mate then did the same, increasing the size of the pile until it was enough for the four hatchlings.
She nuzzled Toothless, wrapping her tail around his. “Thanks, my starlit night,” she purred kindly. He had been quiet the previous day, undoubtedly thinking about Hiccup. But he had stayed here and was helping them. Under her touch, the night fury hummed slightly, before looking back at the hatchlings eating. Or… no, they were fledglings now. That much was apparent from the amount of food that they consumed.
Dart rose from her meal to look at them, annoyed. Light met her gaze, knowing her daughter more than enough to tell what she was thinking. “Learn how to survive and we will stop treating you like hatchlings,” she said simply.
Her daughter gave an amused snort, pointing at her flank. “I have asked you how to deal with boars, but you didn’t answer,” pointed out Dart, and the light fury had to admit it was true. The nightlight faced her, nothing but raw determination in those blue eyes that Light loved about her. “Teach me now. And these disgraces too.”
The calm summer sea was a dream to sail on. Unluckily for the crew, it was not the situation they found themselves in.
The wind whistled loudly against the wing-shaped sail, occasionally rising to a bang when it was whipped by an unexpected gust. The sound of crushing waves was also prominent, reaching nearly over the hull of the ship. They wouldn’t flip the ship in their current state, but one wrong move against would spell doom, which was a perfect description to their current situation.
The children were now gathered at the back of the hull, with the captain cursing himself, the gods and his crew, all the while teaching them new words.
Big Eret looked at the object one last time. The wooden spear with a metal tip and a notch in its rear end for being launched by ballistae, as the ones he had used hundreds of times. Used to hunt dragons. And given to him by Toothless. “A dragon hunter ship reached the hidden world, so people must know that dragons are still around and where said dragons are,” he summarised. “Said people are likely from Berserker, since these…” he turned to the children and taught them one more new word. “…spread the voice of the existence of dragons.” A loud groan resonated in the wind as he looked with frustration at the crew. “Berserker Island knows I took their children to dragons and wants my head on a pike.”
Helga shook her head. “It’s also my fault. They want my head on a pike too,” she corrected.
“What a consolation.”
But teaching the children profanities was not going to help them. This situation left them with little options and the sail was turned into the wind, the creaking of wood coming from the hull as the God Enrager changed its course, heading towards the only island in the archipelago where bringing children to dragons was seen as kidnapping, rather than murder.
Four silent shapes stalked through the forest, aware of their target by its smell in the distance, a soft wind carrying it to them. The vegetation was dense here, but there was a narrow trail that allowed moving through it without making much sounds. A trail made by the same creature the four shapes were after. They had been practising for a number of days now, and were ready.
The sight of boulders appeared in front of them, together with the sound of a small trickle of water. One of the four creatures perked her ears up. Among the sound of the stream was also the soft grunting of their prey. How predictable, thought Dart. But also, convenient.
She raised her tailfins to alert the dragons behind her. For now, the boulders shielded them from the view of their prey, but if they were to surround it, they would be able to rely on nothing but the underbrush to hide. For a moment, Dart pondered on how practical it would be to have a camouflaged hide, as opposed to black and white scales, but she quickly dismissed it as wishful thinking. Nature just didn’t work that way.
The nightlight moved just behind the boulder, and perked her ears up. Loud grunting, claws digging against the ground, scavenging for food, busy. She motioned with her snout, and the dragons behind quickly and stealthily spread out, as they had learned. It was a short yet tense wait, the few seconds in which the prey could find them and flee before it was surrounded, but it passed without sound. Dart nearly growled. This arrogant creature had no respect for its own life either.
The nightlight leaped, her paws landing on the top of the mossy boulder with a muted thump . Now , the boar discovered the danger, those raging eyes with which it had preceded both the scars on her flanks now being replaced with fear against her predatory stare. “ You .”
The boar wasted no time in turning around and leaping for the underbrush, only for a dragon to appear there, making the prey turn around and head in a different direction, she leapt at it, aiming for its back while she shrieked to further disorient it. The boar swerved again as a second dragon appeared and slashed against its flank, and a second before Dart reached it, Ruffrunnner had sprung and sunk his teeth into the back of its neck. The prey made a last, guttural sound and in the next moment was dead, collapsed on the ground.
For a moment, she just stood there, breathing. Though it didn’t take long for her to join her siblings and feast on their catch, while it was still warm. Ruffrunner gave a displeased look at her as she approached. “Why did you talk to the prey?”
Dart nodded and let her gaze drift into the distance. Memories came to her, the wound on her flank still not fully healed, and the other a visible scar. She gave a muted growl. “It’s personal.”
Soon, these matters were forgotten, the primal desire to eat food taking precedence. Toothless and Light joined them, with a million remarks over mistakes they had made in the hunt, yet not able to deny that it had worked out. Strangely, the remarks that her siblings and Laura got included following her too much, which the nightlight considered one of their few positive traits. Light joined their meal soon afterwards, the boar being large enough for all of them. Toothless did not.
Dart looked back. The night fury was looking around, seeming not hungry, despite having spent the last many days teaching them various skills of surviving in the wild as well as hunting their food in the meantime. Dart sighed. It was perfectly clear what was going on, and as much as Light had tried to keep him distracted, he was still fallin back whenever they didn’t give him anything to occupy him. And while her and her siblings were improving, they wouldn’t be fully ready for a life in the wild for possibly months, and still lack the night fury’s years of experience. Dart sighed, because she knew a way to help… yet it wouldn’t be pretty for her.
“Hiccup is alive,” she declared loudly, and Toothless’ ear frills practically flew upright as he stared at her.
The nightlight then gave an angry bark. “Also, you haven’t been good at keeping guard from Hookfangs army. A dragon could sneak out and back into this island without you noticing,” she said accusingly, because it was a serious problem, and she wouldn’t be able to keep it hidden anyway.
There were a few moments of tense silence as the night fury looked at her joyously, and Dart couldn’t help smiling, because despite everything, she loved Toothless, he was a good advisor for her, and now not even angry. The low growl came from Light instead. “ …How do you know this ?” asked her mother with an attitude very similar to the one she had held towards the boar minutes ago.
Thanks to the news of Hiccup’s life, the six dragons would take off towards New Berk shortly. Within five seconds, Dart would be in the air, with two parents motivating her to fly faster using teeth and claws.