Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

New phases. They were natural parts of life, but that did not make them easy to experience. Toothless’s heart ached as he flew without his rider. He would have to adjust to the lightness on his back. This was necessary if he was going to be a proper king for all the dragons in the Hidden World. Toothless led the other reptiles back to the sanctuary with a troubled mind. When they arrived, the residents moved away, wearing uncertain expressions.

“Everyone,” he called out to them, “on Berk, the island was getting overrun by dragons. If we don’t want that to happen here, we’ll need to plan how we’re going to live together.”

“That answer’s simple,” a Timberjack growled. “We don’t.”

“What right do you have to bring all these dragons to our home?” a Raincutter snarled. “None of you should be here. Who even made you king in the first place?”

More of the residents began baring their fangs at the strangers. Meatlug sadly backed away from one while Barf and Belch seemed unsure what to do. Hookfang started snarling at the reptiles. 

“He became king when he defeated a Bewilderbeast.”

This caused the other dragons to hesitate in their growling. A Shiver Tooth appeared doubtful. 

“Impossible. He’s just one dragon.”

“He had us with him too,” Stormfly declared. 

The rest of the Berk reptiles raised their heads confidently. It had a mild effect on the residents. 

“Fine, let’s say that you did defeat the former king of dragons,” a Catastrophic Quaken conceded. “It would explain why none of us have felt him in our minds this year. Still, that doesn’t mean you should be our king.”

“Uh, I think it means just that,” Barf said, confused.

“Yeah,” Belch added. “You beat the king and become one. Isn’t that how it works?”

“It’s never happened before,”  Skullcrusher admitted. “This is new territory for us all.”

“It might be new,” Toothless stated, “but we’re here now. There are Dragon Hunters and Trappers out there. The only way to keep everyone safe is to stay together.”

A chuckle came from a Death Song. “Stay together? For safety? Risky plan considering how some of us view other dragons as prey.”

These sentiments were shared by a Cavern Crasher who licked its lips. “Exactly. I hope you don’t expect me to spare your eggs when you lay them.”

Meatlug’s shyness faded as protectiveness consumed her. She hovered over to the other reptile. 

“You are not eating our eggs,” she said, a threat audible in her voice. 

“Then leave.” The Crasher turned, flicking its tail. “We’re just letting you know what you’re in for. If you want a happy existence, go back to your Viking pets. Otherwise, you’ll just have to deal with things the way they are. This is the wild now. There’s no loyalty.”

“It doesn’t have to be that way anymore,” Toothless assured the group, stepping forward. “I used to feel that way too. The only thing I worried about was when I’d have my next meal. After I met the Vikings, I realized how much more there was to life. I learned about teamwork that crosses species. Imagine what we could do if we worked together.”

Suddenly, a strong gust of wind hit Toothless as a dragon flew at him. In the next instant, he was staring at the giant, red eyes of a Screaming Death. 

“Why would we obey a Night Fury? Your species wasn’t even strong enough to protect itself. How can you help us? You’re weak, only made weaker by your association with humans.” Its jaws started to open wider, showing the rows of fangs. “I could bite you in half right now and end this.”

Toothless’s friends started to go over to him, but they stopped when his body sparkled with electricity. His eyes narrowed and were fierce–deadly even. 

“I am the king of dragons,” he declared. “I earned that title by freeing us all from the past king’s control. You might not like it, but this is the reality we live in. Accept it and the fact that my friends and I are not going anywhere. So, you can complain or participate in making this place the best home dragons have ever known.”

The Hidden World went quiet. The only sound was that of Toothless’s lightning. In spite of the Screaming Death’s irritation, it turned away. By right of combat, the Night Fury was their rightful ruler. As much as the challenger did not want to admit it, a fight with the leader would not result in a new king. Toothless started to calm down, seeing that the mood had changed in the area. 

“I’m not here to be a tyrant like the queen or our last king,” he stated. “I really just want us to find a way to live safely.”

The following silence was less tense. It was for the residents to mull over what they had learned. Slowly, the dragons started to go back to their individual homes as they considered this deeper. The Light Fury went over to Toothless, nuzzling his head with hers. 

“They’ll come around,” she assured him.

“And if they don’t, we can just blow this whole place up!” Barf suggested.

Belch eagerly agreed and their friends grunted quietly. 

“I guess we could leave if they really don’t want us here,” Meatlug mentioned. “There are other islands we can go to.”

Grump let out a heavy sigh. “But we just got here. It’ll be a long flight to find another place.”

“It’s not about the distance,” Hookfang commented. “We can’t let them push us out.”

“We won’t,” Toothless said, certain. “It’ll just take some time for everyone to figure out their place here. Speaking of,” he added, looking around. “We all need to find areas to sleep.”

“Preferably where no one will eat us,” Skullcrusher grumbled.

The friends began going deeper into the habitat, splitting up to find where they would go. Grump and Skullcrusher went off first, then Stormfly and Barf and Belch. Meatlug’s eyes were low as a realization dawned on her. 

“I won’t get to lick Fishlegs.”

“You two are so weird,” Hookfang said. He paused, then sighed when he saw how lonely she looked. “But I guess you can join me in finding a spot.”

Meatlug’s eyes lit up and she joyfully trotted beside the Monstrous Nightmare. “You’re happy to not be all alone too, aren’t you?”

“Of course not. I don’t need to set Snotlout on fire to sleep. I can light the ground just as easily. I’m just doing you a favor.”

“If you say so,” the Gronckle commented, not believing him for a moment. 

The dragons went off, eventually finding a place to stay near a stream. Without any particular invitation, Meatlug snuggled up next to the larger reptile. He was about to complain, but he reluctantly accepted this. It was actually not that bad. As they drifted off to sleep, Toothless and the Light Fury found a cave to enter. It was quiet, allowing the only sound in the Night Fury’s mind to be all his worried thoughts.

“You can do this,” the other reptile told him. 

“I’ll have to, but I’m barely used to being king. I’ve never been in charge of this many dragons before.” He turned to the other Fury. “I’m not even sure how to keep them from cannibalizing each other. At least Hiccup isn’t dealing with that back on Berk.”

Amusement covered the Light Fury’s face. “No, I doubt that’s a concern for them.”

Toothless still looked worried, so the other dragon laid down next to him. 

“It’s been a long day for everyone. Get some rest and you’ll be able to think clearer in the morning.”

Reluctantly, Toothless followed this suggestion. He doubted that he would be able to sleep, but slumber graced him with its presence after an hour passed. The dragon awoke before most of the others did. He left the cave and began walking around the Hidden World. 

“We don’t have sufficient food,” he thought. “There’s just fish in the stream or ocean if we decide to leave. That won’t be enough to convince some of the others to stop eating dragons. We need more prey. We need…yaks for them. Maybe sheep too. We could keep them like Hiccup and the other Berkians did. Then the rest of us can eat fish. That way, there’ll be enough food for everyone,”

Toothless started returning to the cave, but he stopped when there was a loud explosion. The Night Fury did not even need to get confirmation before he knew who was the cause. Grunting, he followed the trail of smoke to Barf and Belch. They were bopping their heads against each other and standing near a flaming tree.

“He started it!” they both cried.

Toothless squinted at them. “We just got here. You can’t destroy the place.”

The Night Fury used his wings to put out the fire. All the noise drew Stormfly’s attention, so she joined Toothless in extinguishing the flames. When they were done, they turned back to their friend.

“Sorry,” both heads said in unison. 

“No one was hurt at least,” Toothless stated, looking around.

Some of the other dragons were nearby and regarding the newcomers with contempt. 

“We did this a lot with the twins in the morning,” Belch commented. 

“It was really fun,” Barf added.

“I know,” the Night Fury sighed. “Things have to be different here. The other dragons won’t be as willing to help clean up the messes like the Berkians were.”

Immediately, this caused the Hideous Zippleback to look dismayed. 

“Explosions are what we’re best at,” Barf said sadly.

“What do we do now?” Belch inquired.

Toothless hesitated with his answer. He still needed to figure that part out.

“I’ll let you know soon. First, I want to get everyone together to discuss some new plans.”

“I can gather them,” Stormfly volunteered. 

She flew off to retrieve the other reptiles. The Deadly Nadder agilely went through the trees, finding where each of them were located.

“Our king has plans to share,” she revealed. 

Some dragons felt curiosity whereas others felt annoyance for having to do this. Regardless, everyone gathered to hear the ruler’s news. The Night Fury saw this mix of emotions in the audience. After he took a breath, he addressed them.

“I know that meals are going to be an important area to take care of,” Toothless announced. “Therefore, we’ll bring yaks and sheep here. The dragons who eat fish will be in charge of keeping the livestock. That way, we’ll always have food.” A serious look entered his eyes. “We aren’t eating each other. That has to end. If we can’t feel safe in our own home, that means it’s not much of one.”

This caused a disappointed grumble to come from some of the dragons. Their stomachs were already getting ready to be filled with dragon meat.

“What if we don’t want to eat sheep or yaks?” someone asked.

“Then you can eat fish. As long as it’s not one of us or poisonous, feel free to eat it,” Toothless said. 

Although the cannibals were unhappy with this news, the other dragons looked receptive to the idea.

“We’ll go find some livestock, then return,” Toothless stated, looking at his friends. 

They started going towards him and the rest returned to their business. Toothless’s eyes twinkled when he saw an assuring look from the Light Fury. Quickly, he and the Berk dragons took to the sky. It was quiet for a few minutes until Hookfang let out a warble.

“Feels good to get out of there,” he said. “It’s like we have to be careful how we act around everybody.”

“You should just light something on fire,” Barf suggested. 

“It’s a great way to let out your feelings,” Belch assured him.

“No,” Toothless interjected. “That’s the last thing we should be doing.” He paused briefly. “There’s another reason why I wanted you all specifically to join me. We’re not like most dragons anymore. We’ve been around humans too long for that. I don’t think that’s a bad thing, but it’s going to change how the others see us. There’s no real way to avoid it.”

“So, we embrace it instead?” Skullcrusher asked. “Make the most of it?”

“At least until we readjust.” Toothless turned to Barf and Belch. “You both are especially going to need tasks to keep you from killing someone by accident. So, when we get the cattle, you can set up traps to stop them from escaping different areas. We won’t be able to make pins like the Vikings did. What you set up will have to replace them.”

“Alright!” the Zippleback cheered, headbutting each other. 

“Stormfly, since you’re used to surveillance, can you help keep an eye on everything?” Toothless asked, looking at the Nadder. “If we’ve got new dragons or unfamiliar Vikings getting too close, we need to know.”

“I can handle that.”

“Meatlug, do you remember most of what Fishlegs told you about different dragons he studied?”

“Probably all of it.”

“Good, then you can be in charge of helping the other newcomers adjust to the dragons they’ve never been around.”

“What about me?” Hookfang asked. “I don’t know how testing out weapons with Snotlout is going to be useful here.”

“It might have to change a little, but you could use those ideas he had to help the smaller dragons have ways to defend themselves. Some of the larger ones are going to see what they can get away with. The smaller ones will need to be ready. We can’t be everywhere and don’t want anyone getting hurt if we can’t protect them.” 

“And I can help keep the larger ones in check,” Skullcrusher offered. “They might just need a reminder that no one’s unstoppable, so if they try to eat any dragon, I’ll stop them.”

Looks of determination entered the reptiles’ eyes, but they started to notice Grump’s silence. 

“Let me guess,” Hookfang commented, “you’re just going to be sleeping?”

“Sounds about right,” the Hotburple agreed. “If you need me, roar really loudly. That’ll…probably wake me up.”

“Then we have a plan,” Toothless stated, feeling better already. “I’ll keep an eye on everything to make sure nothing’s going wrong.”

“It’ll be strange being here,” Meatlug admitted. 

“It will, but we’ll make the Hidden World our home too.” Toothless glanced behind him, eyes in the direction of Berk. “It’ll just take some time to get used to everything.”

Chapter Text

When the friends returned to the Hidden World, they brought yaks, sheep, and boars with them. Toothless glanced at Barf and Belch unsurely in regards to the tusked creatures.

“I really think we should have left those back on the island.”

“Aw!” Barf commented. “But we used to have so much fun watching Ruff and Tuff play in the boar pit.”

“Yeah!” Belch added. “It’s like bringing a piece of home with us.”

“Just try to make sure that pit’s deep, so they won’t escape and get into trouble.”

“Don’t worry!” both heads assured him eagerly. 

Toothless was mildly amused by their enthusiasm. It was nice to see them look happy. Seeing the Zippleback downcast was too unnatural to cause anything other than concern for him. His next goal was ensuring that the rest of his friends would be happy as well. If the plan worked out, he hoped they would be. Toothless led them towards the center of the island. 

“This should be a good spot,” he said. “It’s far inland, so if anything escapes, we don’t have to worry about it running off the edge of the cliff by accident and getting lost in the sea.”

In agreement, the other dragons started to set the animals down, then Meatlug stopped.

“Um, we have a problem,” she said nervously. 

Her friends turned to her curiously.

“How do we keep them from running around until Barf and Belch are done with the traps?”

Toothless hesitated, realizing he had not considered that. Suddenly, his eyes lit up.

“Speed Stingers,” he stated. 

Immediately, the Night Fury flew off to find the aforementioned reptiles. A group of them was by a stream. They regarded him unsurely at first, then bowed their heads politely. The only one to not do this was the largest Speed Stinger.

“We need your help,” Toothless informed them. “We got the livestock, but it’ll work better if they’re immobilized until we’re done with the traps. Could you sting them?” 

The smaller Stingers appeared open to the idea. In fact, they almost seemed intrigued.

“And what if we chose to sting you instead?” the largest Speed Stinger asked.

Hearing this, the other dragons glanced at their leader. 

“We don’t mind helping,” one said timidly.

This caused the Lead Stinger to run over to the insubordinate creature. As soon as it did, the tinier dragon shrunk.

“You don’t speak for us,” the leader said threateningly. “I do.” It looked back at Toothless. “And I’ve been thinking about that ‘teamwork’ you mentioned. We Speed Stingers have gone generations without associating with other dragons more than necessary. We’ve learned how to adapt and get everything we could ever need on our own.” Its gaze became more hateful as it lingered on the Night Fury’s wings. “We’ve learned how dragons like you look down on us.”

“What?” Toothless inquired, shocked. 

“We’re flightless. Or did you forget?”

“I didn’t, but I don’t think that’s a reason to look down on you.”

“You literally can while you’re flying above us.” The dragon gestured to the rest of the habitat with its head. “With our venom, we could incapacitate every dragon in the Hidden World, but if you ask any of them, they’ll act like we’re barely threats. Us, the Cavern Crashers…all flightless dragons go through it. You might think that adding food is going to make our world peaceful, but there are a lot more problems in the wild that you’ve either never known or never considered.”

Toothless was quiet for a moment. That was something he had never considered. Flightless dragons were inadvertently kept out of the Dragon Riders. Although it was nothing personal, it was done. Doing so just allowed for more ease. He did not think that the reason was prejudice, but maybe…

“We can work to resolve that too,” Toothless stated confidently. “We just have a lot to deal with here. If we tackle every problem at the same time, nothing’s going to get accomplished. Let's take it one task at a time. Right now, we can worry about increasing our food supply, then we can work on civil matters. I promise you that.”

The alpha Stinger still looked suspicious. “No king or queen before has.”

“I’m not trying to be like those who came before. I’ll make a place for all dragons.”

“Bold claims. Can you actually do that?”

“I won’t stop until I do.”

There was a brief silence, then the Stinger turned to its group. 

“Well, you heard our king. He needs us to help. I think that’s a manageable request.” The dragon looked back at Toothless. “We’ll see what happens next.”

Hope glimmered in the Night Fury’s eyes. He started leading the Speed Stingers back to where the livestock were. They stung the creatures, paralyzing them, then the Berk dragons set the animals down.

“Thanks!” Meatlug said appreciatively. 

Surprised, the smaller dragons did not seem sure how to respond.

“Uh, it wasn’t so hard to do,” one commented. 

“Yeah,” another Speed Stinger added. “Anything to keep from getting eaten.”

“That shouldn’t be an issue for long,” Toothless assured them.

He sent a look to the rest of his friends and they got the message. It was time to begin their parts in this plan. They split up, going to attend to their individual tasks. Barf and Belch stayed with the livestock, eagerly going over all the different explosive plans they had with the twins. 

“We should get some of that gel from Hookfang,” Belch said.

“Yeah! Then we can make a circle around the livestock. If one of them tries to escape, boom! Nothing but flames!”

“But how would we know they’re about to escape?”

“Those pits! They can circle where the animals stay.”

“Good idea! Then if they fall in, we'll know.”

“And we can put the gel outside the pit! Anyone who gets out will be roasted!”

Happily, the heads began digging in the ground. At first, they began going in different directions, but when they were forced to stop moving, they decided to go to the right first. Meanwhile, Stormfly was speedily flying around the island. It was all clear. No dragons or Vikings were in sight. She tried to ignore the pang of sadness from not hearing Astrid commenting about the sights. Overtime, the Deadly Nadder had grown accustomed to the Berkian having new ideas for how to keep an eye on things. Stormfly supposed she would just have to make do on her own. As the Deadly Nadder did this, Hookfang was looking for some of the smaller dragons. He spotted a group of Fireworms and approached. 

“Hi!” they greeted in unison. 

“Hey, I’m here to help you find a way to fight off bigger dragons if they come after you.”

Their little eyes lit up. “Really? Why?”

“Well, we don’t want anybody getting crushed and you’re pretty crushable.”

The dragons looked offended, but it was not as if they could deny the claim. 

“So, what do we do?”

Hookfang paused, thinking over the various tasks he did with Snotlout. “You’d probably be better off using long-distance attacks against other dragons if you had to defend yourself. That and teamwork.”

“You strangers sure do like that teamwork stuff,” a Fireworm commented, neither opposed nor receptive. 

“It’s just something that’s helped a lot.” 

Hookfang stopped talking when his eyes went to a long branch. It was broken at one end, revealing an abundance of splintery pieces. The Monstrous Nightmare felt a wave of mischievousness enter him as he considered what he might have used them for with his rider. 

“Can you all throw anything with your mouths?” he inquired.

“I don’t think any of us have tried.”

Hookfang grabbed the branch, using his right claw to break the part with splinters. Then he slid them over to the smaller reptiles.

“Pull those out and try. Aim for that tree over there.”

Unsurely, the dragons began trying this out for themselves. The first several attempts were failures, but with time, they were getting closer. It was promising. 

“If you get better at that, I’ll leave some Monstrous Nightmare gel with you.”

“Huh?”

The dragon stopped, forgetting that it was not called that in the dragon community. “The mucus that comes off my skin, it’s flammable and I’ve got loads of it. You can use some to dip the branches in. Just do that before you leave your habitat and you should be okay. Blasting fire at the others isn’t going to do much, but throwing these flaming splinters is going to be irritating and could buy you some time to escape.”

“Thanks!”

Hookfang felt pleased with the suggestion and wondered what else he could come up with for the other tiny dragons. He continued this work while Meatlug was searching for anyone willing to become her pupil. She hovered, looking around curiously. The reptile felt relieved when she spotted several Deadly Nadders and Gronckles. Some of that relief faded when she saw how apprehensive they were towards her.

“Hello, stranger,” a Nadder said.

“Hi. My name's Meatlug.”

This caused another Nadder to chortle. “Is that what your pet would call you?”

“Fishlegs wasn’t my pet,” she said defensively. “He was my best friend.”

“If you say so. Why are you over here?”

Meatlug tried to not be hurt by their dismissive attitudes. It was all part of the wild. She just had to remember that. Little mattered if it was not about food, shelter, or securing a bloodline. 

“I learned a lot about different dragons, so I was wondering if you’d want to know too. I’m planning on having some classes.”

“Classes? Like how Vikings put us into specific groups?”

“No, classes as in, there’ll be a group of dragons present and I’ll share what I know about the other kinds. It should help to remove some uncertainties. Hopefully, it’ll stop problems before they begin.”

A Gronckle looked bored with the prospect. “Stay in one spot and learn all day? I’ll pass. Besides, what do I need to know about other dragons? As long as they don’t get in my way and I’m out of theirs, it’ll be fine.”

“Did you know that Prickleboggles can use their mist blasts to heal?”

The other Gronckle got quiet, then huffed. “As if I’d need to know something like that. I don’t get injured that often.”

“But if you did and one was nearby, you could ask for help in exchange for helping them with something.”

“Told you. I’m not going to be around them.”

“Okay, then what if there’s a fight?”

“I’ll win.”

“Even if it’s against Singetails whose stomachs have slits on them that shoot out fire?”

“They can shoot fire from there too?” the Gronckle asked, appalled.

“See?” Meatlug asked, happily. “I bet you’d all be able to find some practical uses for the classes. Knowing what each other can do could even make you not want to fight so much.”

“Maybe,” the other dragons grumbled.

“I’m going to try to find some more students, then go to the cave on the West side at dusk. Will you be there?”

“Maybe,” they grumbled again.

Meatlug felt excited by this and hovered off to find more students. She kept going and Skulllcrusher flew around, slyly watching the larger dragons. He recognized the arrogance in their eyes. It was something he had plenty of in his youth. The Screaming Death was just brimming with murderous intent. Skullcrusher did not like the idea of leaving things as they were. Before long, if nothing was done, that dragon was going to hurt someone. The Screaming Death was talking with some Whispering Deaths. They seemed opposed to whatever it was saying. When they saw Skullcrusher, they went silent.

“He’s watching,” one said. 

The largest dragon turned to see who was being referred to, then growled. “Let him.”

Skullcrusher started flying closer and the Whispering Deaths seemed torn between just pretending like nothing was going on and backing up their friend.

“Anything wrong here?”

“You clearly think so,” the large dragon accused. “There’s not going to be a day when I fear a Rumblehorn, so you’re wasting your time if the so-called king sent you to knock some sense into me.”

“He didn’t and that’s not what I wanted to do anyway.”

This made the other reptile look confused. “I challenged our king and neither of you are going to punish me for it?”

“Correct.”

The Screaming Death scoffed. “I knew that Night Fury didn’t have what it takes. No one would ever let that go.”

“Then that should be all the more reason why you respect him as a merciful leader instead of plotting against him.”

“Who said I was plotting?”

Skullcrusher regarded the younger dragon without amusement. 

“Even if I was,” the Screaming Death continued, “it’s not like he wouldn’t be outnumbered. You all would be.”

“If the whole Hidden World turned on us, yeah, we’d be outnumbered,” Skullcrusher admitted. “But I don’t think that’ll help anyone. If Toothless is dethroned, then everything goes back to normal. You might not care because you aren’t at risk for being eaten or mistreated, but do you really not care about your friends here? What if they lay eggs and lose them to other dragons?”

The Screaming Death looked at the nearby reptiles. They appeared saddened by the thought.

“It’s a risk we’ve always known.”

“Doesn’t mean it’s one you always should know.” Skullcrusher peered deep into the creature’s eyes. “You remind me of when I was younger.”

“Liar.”

“I’m serious. I used to be brash, cocky…I figured that I was a strong dragon and nobody could stop me if I didn’t want to be stopped.” The reptile paused, amused with a memory. “I found a dear friend who shared those traits.”

“Sounds like a good thing then. Why are you acting like I should be different?”

“Because your fighting spirit isn’t a bad thing, but it’s directed the wrong way. Use it to protect others instead of endangering them. I learned that when I saw innocent dragons, young and old, get killed in a terrible earthquake one day. All my strength and I’d only ever spent it on fighting. There was so much more I could’ve done. After that, I decided that I wanted to help whoever I could.”

“And you think that I’ll…what? Be happier if I start helping out around here and defend other dragons from dangers?”

“I know it.”

The dragons glared at each other, then the Screaming Death let out a chortle. “I see some of that cockiness is still there, old scales.”

“Like I said, it just needed a better place to go.”

The Screaming Death was not sure if he agreed, but it was something he was willing to consider. Skullcrusher saw that and viewed it as a mild success at least. He did not push the matter more and left to see how the other larger dragons were doing. Grump kept true to his word and slept the day away. The last dragon to work was Toothless. He was troubled by what the Speed Stingers said. He needed to know if it was like that for more reptiles or not. The Night Fury followed the scent of the Cavern Crasher he had seen and stood near the entrance to a cave. 

“The king decides to grace me with his presence?” came the sarcastic question.

“I have something I want to ask you.”

“Is it about eggs?”

“No, it’s about flightlessness.”

This led to a silence before the Cavern Crasher revealed itself. It was walking on the ceiling of the cave. Toothless looked up, seeing its suspicious eyes.

“Can I come in?”

“Might as well.”

Toothless entered and sat near some rocks. “Do you feel like you’re mistreated for not being able to fly?”

The other dragon walked down the side of the cave wall. “Can’t tell. Nobody likes me, but it might be because I eat their children.” It let out an amused grumble. “So, I can’t blame them for that.”

“What about other flightless dragons?”

“What’s got you thinking about this? It doesn’t concern you and your friends.”

“I’m the king. What happens to other dragons concerns me.”

“Hmm, well then I think I’ve heard some harsh words directed at Silkspanners.”

Toothless’s eyes took on a bewildered expression. “I don’t get it. The king of dragons is normally flightless. How is that not enough to change opinions?”

“Because it’s not as if we had to like the king. We just got controlled into doing whatever he wanted. Along with that, Bewilderbeasts are giant. They take up the whole sky anyway, so there’s no real point in flying. Still, the flying ones are the most feared. That’s why the queen was able to stay in power for so long, but the king was defeated so fast. Do you think that’s not something that other dragons are using to justify why they think we’re weak?”

Some guilt hit Toothless. He had not meant to indirectly make things worse for other reptiles. 

“Then I’ll lead by example,” he stated. “That’s not going to be tolerated here. We’re all dragons. True peace can’t exist among mistreatment.”

The Cavern Crasher started climbing up the wall again. “You know, I didn’t like you at first, but that doesn’t sound so bad. You just might have an alright plan there…Your Majesty.”

Toothless’s eyes twinkled at the respect he heard in the reptile’s face. “Thanks for being up to talking with me.”

“Just make the Hidden World that place you’re telling us about and I’ll consider us even.”

With a determined look, the Night Fury left the cave. When he was out of the darkness, he could see the habitat in a new way. It seemed less scary than before. Gradually, it was changing from an unfamiliar place full of uncertainties. It was becoming…not home quite yet, but it was only a matter of time. Toothless was determined to make the Hidden World great. Nothing would stop him from reaching that goal.

Chapter Text

Several months passed with the Berk dragons in the Hidden World. Toothless flew over the habitat, looking at some of the pescatarian creatures letting yaks out of their enclosures. A Death Song eagerly accepted the meal and flew off with one. Another sound caught Toothless’s attention. He saw a boar trapped in part of the pit that Barf and Belch had dug. Hearing this led to some of the other dragons putting the animal back in the center. The Night Fury was pleased with how matters regarding food were going, so that meant civil issues were next. His eyes twinkled when the Light Fury approached.

“You look happy,” she remarked, flying side-by-side with him.

“It’s working,” he said, audibly relieved. “No one’s eaten each other.”

“Well, I think I noticed a Timberjack licking its snout at the sight of Stormfly.”

Toothless let out a small chortle. “You’re not funny.”

Turning serious, the other dragon’s eyes sparkled with hope. “It’s really impressive what you’ve been able to do.”

“It’s not just me,” Toothless stated, looking down. 

He saw Meatlug preparing another one of her classes. A little further up, Hookfang was with more small dragons, training them in self-defense. 

“You’ve all done great,” the Light Fury agreed. 

“But it’s not enough yet. We need to work on how the dragons here get along. There's just a little left to do.” Toothless glanced at his companion. “What do you think of flightless dragons? I’ve never asked you before.”

The Light Fury paused to think. “Not much, I suppose. They’re practically the same as us, just unable to fly. It is a little strange, but it’s nothing I hold against them.”

Turning, the king looked down again. This time, he saw some of the Speed Stingers. They were mostly staying together, but one ventured to go towards a Razorwhip. When it did, the larger dragon did not seem to react much. It nearly seemed like the Speed Stinger was being ignored.

“I wish more dragons saw it that way,” Toothless admitted.

“It would be nice, but you can't control what others think.”

“No, but maybe I can influence it.”

“What do you mean?”

“The flightless dragons mostly stay separate from the others. Have you noticed that? The Cavern Crashers stay in their caves, the Speed Stingers are almost never seen without another one of them around, and I can’t even think of when I’ve seen any other kind of flightless dragon. They have to be here, but it’s like they go into hiding when we show up.”

“Then what do you want to do? Ask them to stay out here if they see us?”

Toothless thought over his options. “I’m going to ask some of them to help with the food distribution. That way, they’ll have to work with dragons who have flight and they’ll be around the others when they come to get food. Maybe they can start becoming friends.”

The Light Fury regarded him with amusement. “You sound a lot like that human.”

“I’m glad,” Toothless said, sighing. “I wonder how things are going on Berk.” He became quiet for a moment. “I’m also wondering if…”

The dragon trailed off, causing his companion to look at him. 

“He misses you too. I’m sure of it.”

Toothless glanced her way. “Thanks.” With renewed determination, he took a breath. “Okay, let’s start this next phase of the plan.”

The Furies flew down towards the Speed Stingers, surprising the creatures. 

“Would any of you be able to help distribute some food?” Toothless inquired.

This only caused more surprise to fill the reptiles. They looked back at one another before turning to their leader. The Lead Stinger let out a soft grunt.

“I’m not sure why you’re all looking at me. You heard the request our king gave.”

Happily, Toothless grinned at the reptiles. “Great. Just follow me this way then.”

He started to walk, but the Alpha Stinger stopped him. 

“We can run a lot faster than you walk, so you might as well fly.”

Obliging, Toothless flapped his wings as he led the group over to where the boars were being kept. A few Catastrophic Quakens were in charge of them. When they saw the Speed Stingers, they acted like they were indifferent.

“Are they going to start helping us?” one asked.

“Correct,” Toothless answered. “This way, you all can have more breaks so that you won’t have to spend as much of the day here.”

“Sounds good to me.”

More of the Quakens echoed this sentiment, making Toothless feel hopeful. The Night and the Light Fury kept going around the Hidden World, looking for new tasks which could cause created interactions. While they did, it became dusk and Meatlug hosted another class. She was excited to see even more new students. It seemed like every day, someone new showed up.

“Welcome!” she eagerly greeted. The dragon gestured to rocks and fish with her head. “I brought snacks. It’s never good to learn on an empty stomach. That's what I found out on Berk.”

The newcomers approached and took a few of the snacks to begin. Meatlug hovered in the middle of the group.

“How many of you know about Dramilions?”

None of the dragons made a comment.

“It’s good to know that they’re really fast learners. Before I came here, we helped them fight off Dragon Hunters. Soon, they were able to free each other after seeing us undo the chains.”

“Woah, really?” a Zippleback asked.

“Really. I was impressed. I’d never seen dragons learn so fast before. Now, what about Flightmares?”

This time, a Gronckle hovered slightly. Meatlug saw and turned to him.

“You over there. Do you know?”

“I know a little about them. Had a cousin who found this Deadly Nadder a while back who wouldn’t move. He thought that it was just playing a weird game, then we heard about a bad meeting with a Flightmare.”

“They keep dragons from moving?” a Shiver Tooth inquired.

“They can,” Meatlug answered. “Their mist isn’t necessarily dangerous like most blasts, but they paralyze dragons, Vikings…probably anything else too.”

“We should try it on a yak!”

Meatlug turned again to the familiar voice. She saw Barf and Belch excitedly bumping their heads together.

“We could,” she admitted, “but I’m pretty sure paralysis is going to be the result.”

“Here’s what I don’t know,” the other Gronckle stated, a troubled look in his eyes. “How do you defend against them?”

“You have to get out of range of their blasts. I don’t think there’s another option.”

“Kinda puts slower dragons like us in a bad position, then, doesn’t it?”

“It does, but I think we still stand a good chance if we’re with friends. Besides, who’s to say a Flightmare would even attack unless we decide to start a fight with one?”

The Gronckle paused, thinking this over. “Fair point.” Suddenly, he started to look excited. “You really do know a lot about dragons. Ever seen a Snow Wraith?”

“I have. My friends and I went to see one some years ago.”

More questions came from this Gronckle and the other students eagerly listened to the new information they were getting. When the class ended, Meatlug felt like it had gone by too quickly. The fortunate part was that she could at least do this again the next day.

“It was another great class,” the one Gronckle said, hovering over to her.

Meatlug smiled at him. “Thanks. I really like doing these. I was hoping other dragons would show up. At first, I was a little worried that no one would be interested.”

“They’d be the ones missing out if they weren’t here. I think more of us should attend. We get to learn a lot and it’s sorta nice to do something so different from what our normal days are like. Routine can be nice, but it gets boring after a while.”

“I can understand that. I used to do a lot of different things when I was…”

Meatlug hesitated. She was getting too excited about these thoughts. Mentioning the Berkians every other time she spoke to another dragon was not going to help her acclimate to this new life. 

“When you were with the Vikings?” the other dragon guessed.

Meatlug looked at him, slightly embarrassed. “Yeah. I guess I talk about them a lot.”

“I get why you do. They were your friends. I can’t say I understand how that happened, but I’d want to think about those I cared about if I had someone like that.”

“You don’t have someone?” Meatlug asked sadly. “No one at all?”

“Not really. A lot of the Gronckles I grew up with didn’t enjoy being around each other a lot. We’d just come back together to sleep, but we’d get our own food, fight our own battles, and stuff like that.”

“I…remember times like that actually,” Meatlug said, a little shocked.

It had been so long since she thought about those days. 

“Well, maybe that’s another reason why I enjoy listening to your classes. It’s like we’re all friends here or at least all willing to do something together.”

This made Meatlug happy to hear and she wagged her tail, causing the other dragon to chuckle.

“You don’t have to be lonely anymore,” she said. “I’ll be your friend…if you want to be at least.”

“Yeah! I’d like that a lot.”

Excited, both Gronckles continued to talk later into the night. That same evening, Toothless and the Light Fury retired to their home. They had barely entered before the female dragon noticed something was wrong with him. 

“What happened?” she asked.

“I can’t control minds.”

“Well, yes, but I assumed you knew that.”

Toothless turned to her. “No, I mean that there’s no way for all the dragons to have heard the call. Some are still beyond the Hidden World. They’re in danger.”

The Light Fury paused, not having considered that. “What do you want to do?”

“Tomorrow, we’ll go with a group to see who we can find. This plan falls apart if dragons are still being killed and we just don’t know.”

Toothless quickly left the cave, thinking about how many he would need to bring. He knew that his friends would be included in this, but he also enjoyed the thought of bringing some of the other dragons. Flying, he spotted Hookfang and Skullcrusher sparring. They temporarily stopped when they saw him.

“Why are you flying around?” Hookfang asked. “I thought Stormfly was on recon duty.”

“She is, but I remembered that not all the dragons are here.”

“Of course they are. You summoned them and…” The Monstrous Nightmare’s eyes widened. “You can’t reach their minds.”

“Exactly. I just realized that tonight. We don’t know how many dragons are still out there, getting captured or slaughtered.”

“Then when do we leave?” Skullcrusher asked.

“Morning. It’ll give us time to find everyone. If you could tell Meatlug and Barf and Belch, I’ll tell Stormfly and the rest.”

Obliging with the request, the two reptiles went off to find their friends. Toothless flew beyond the habitat, speeding up to spot Stormfly. He saw her on the North side of the Hidden World.

“Is something wrong?” she asked.

“Yes, we need to go looking for more dragons. We might be missing some and won’t know until we search.”

The Deadly Nadder got quiet for a moment. “If they’re out there, it’s possible that the Hunters or Trappers are too. We didn’t get rid of them all.”

“I know. It’s why we have to act fast. With so many of us here during these months, they were probably working even harder to get whatever dragons they could find. If Hiccup and the others didn’t think of it either, then they might not even know they need to help.”

“Or maybe they’re still fighting and we’ll see them.”

It was Toothless’s turn to be quiet this time. He did not want to hold onto hopes like that. Of course it would have been amazing to see his Viking friends again, but it was unlikely. They were separated. Accepting that would make it easier to adjust.

“Maybe,” he admitted. “Either way, let’s focus on protecting the dragons. We’ll be leaving in the morning.”

Stormfly agreed and the Night Fury flew off to tell the rest of the reptiles he wanted to bring. He stopped when he spotted Cloudjumper. The dragon was eating fish and looked up at the ruler.

“We’re going to need help looking for more dragons.”

“I'm not sure how many there would be. The ones from Valka’s nest are here too.”

“I know, but I want to find out if more are out there.”

The Stormcutter appeared open to this and let out a soft warble. “I’ll go with you then. It defeats the purpose if some dragons aren’t here.”

“Great, I was hoping you’d say that.”

Toothless started to fly off, but the other dragon spoke up.

“You know, if any of you have questions about being in the wild, I could help.”

“I do,” Toothless said. “We want to see if we can readjust on our own. Asking how to be wild seems almost like cheating.”

“I can understand that. Just know I’m here if you change your mind.” 

Toothless sent him an appreciative look and continued going around to look for dragons. By dawn, they had a medium-sized group gathered. To the surprise of some, they saw flightless dragons included in this.

“Why are we bringing Cavern Crashers?” Scauldron asked.

“Because their mucus is flammable,” Toothless responded. “All they need to do is get that on the Hunters, then we can use a small flame to take care of the rest. That’ll make it so we don’t have to worry about our shot limits as much since one blast will do more damage than usual.”

Satisfied, the Scauldron got ready to fly. Toothless saw that this response was enough for some of the other dragons as well. Only a few of them looked hesitant. Skullcrusher’s eyes twinkled when he saw the Screaming Death also in the group. Barf and Belch helped lift a Crasher while some Triple Strykes carried the rest. Stormfly and several other Nadders paid attention to any new scents, leading the way out of the Hidden World. As the dawn became noon, they noticed nothing.

“Maybe all the dragons really are here,” Skullcrusher offered.

“No, that can’t be it,” Toothless said. “Unless someone told them, there wouldn’t have been a way for dragons far from us back then to hear. We just need to keep looking.”

So, the dragons continued their search for hours longer. When it was dusk, Toothless began to feel bad. He could have just dragged these dragons out of the Hidden World for no reason other than to appease his paranoia.

“Maybe I was wr–”

The ruler stopped talking when he saw Stormfly become tense. 

“There’s something,” she said. “Dragons are up ahead…behind those mountains.”

Speeding up, the group flew to find the other reptiles. When they spotted them, they realized that these dragons were in chains. One had its head pressed into the ground by a Hunter’s boot. The man lifted an ax over his head. Before he could drop it on the creature, a plasma blast shot it out of his hands. His eyes widened and his face paled in fear.

“Night Fury!” he yelled.

The other Hunters prepared to attack, but they moved back when the Cavern Crashers were nearly dropped on top of them. Shaking, the reptiles flung their mucus onto the targets. 

“Now!” Toothless ordered.

At his command, the group shot out a blast. All the fluids caught on fire in a large explosion which thoroughly delighted Barf and Belch. While the Vikings tried to put out these flames, the other dragons went to the trapped reptiles. They broke the cages and chains. Eagerly, they started to fly away with the strangers. As soon as they were off the ground, the Screaming Death burrowed into the land, causing the Vikings to panic more. Happy with the job done, it went to join the others. They were able to put a good distance between them and the Hunters.

“Thanks for the help,” a Seashocker said. “But why did you help us?”

“We’re all living in a Hidden World now,” Toothless explained. “We don’t want any dragons to get hurt. Our goal is to protect everyone.”

The former prisoners looked shocked to hear this, but they also seemed happy. They all continued going until they landed back in the Hidden World. The next day, the group went out again to find more dragons. There were less this time, but it was the same with them being attacked. It became a trend for the entire week. The dragons of the Hidden World were determined to not leave anyone behind this time.

Chapter Text

Togetherness. It was a peculiar concept for most dragons. In certain contexts, it made sense. When a group of Night Terrors worked together to form the shapes of other dragons, that was natural. When a Singetail was combining its attack with a Scauldron’s, that was less so. Still, that did not mean it was unhelpful. The dragons would have even gone as far as to admit that it was exciting. Their king led them in another search. There would not be many left, but every search counted. Every life saved was worth the risk of flying out there without finding anyone. Some of the dragons with flight were carrying Silkspanners. They all were learning this pattern well. As soon as they saw other dragons in chains, the flightless reptiles would be dropped near the Vikings. Immediately, the Silkspanners used their webs to trap Hunters. The Vikings called out angrily, but they could not move. At the last moment, the reptiles noticed that they had missed someone. A Death Song quickly took care of this, blasting the Viking with amber. A proud twinkle shone in the reptiles’ eyes. They turned to their leader.

“Another set freed,” a Silkspanner declared.

Happiness was in Toothless’s gaze. “Well done, all of you.” He turned to some Dramilions. “Can you handle these traps?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Speedily, the dragons got to work, undoing the restraints. With these efforts, Timberjacks, Changewings, and Armorwings were released. The Armorwings had lost some of their protection while fighting with Hunters. Carefully, Toothless went over and picked up a piece of the metal with his mouth. He brought it over to the dragons, getting the others to do the same. 

“Thanks,” one said, surprised.

“You’re welcome. We’re almost done relocating all the dragons. We’d like it if you joined us.”

The reptiles were shocked by the offer and did not immediately know how to respond. 

“It’s a lot easier to live together than out here,” a member of the Hidden World added.

Another dragon grunted in agreement. “We don’t get hunted back home.”

“Really?” 

The dragons turned to Toothless in shock. “How did you get that to happen?”

“Almost no one knows where we are,” he explained. “The only Vikings who know are our friends. They wouldn’t come to attack anyone.”

The other reptiles regarded him skeptically. How odd for a dragon to call Vikings his friends. Yet, those with him seemed to trust him very well. Maybe he was less bizarre than they thought. A Changewing turned towards a Dramilion.

“You call him ‘your majesty.’ Why?”

“He’s the King of Dragons.”

This filled the freed captives with shock.

“Him? But–”

“Yeah, we know,” Hookfang said. “He’s not a Bewilderbeast. Just goes to show you what he can do.”

After a short moment, a Timberjack went forward and bowed its head. “Then we should obey the wishes of our king.”

Happily, Toothless saw that the others shared this feeling. They began flying back to the habitat with the others. Toothless was proud of what they saw. Speed Stingers and Catastrophic Quakens were joyfully conversing, distributing food all the while; Fireworms had taken up the mantle to help other small dragons learn self-defense. Toothless could even see a few Cavern Crashers helping older Whispering Deaths move around since their wings were not as strong as they once were. 

“Woah,” a newcomer commented. “This is…kind of nice. Really nice actually.”

“I’ve never seen a place like this before.”

“It’s your home now,” Toothless stated warmly. “Don’t worry about trying to fit in. None of us do, but I think that’s what makes it work so well.”

Intrigued, the dragons went off to explore the land more. When they were gone, Toothless let out a soft chuckle.

“Meatlug, you might as well go over there,” he said. 

The Gronckle looked surprised by the comment. “Huh?”

Toothless gestured to the right with his head, showing where his friend’s new companion was hovering. The other Gronckle looked slightly embarrassed, then grinned and flew over.

“Hi, Meatlug.”

“Hi!” 

“I found some more of those rocks you really liked. Want to come over and eat them with me?”

“I’d love to!”

Meatlug heard Hookfang making a gagging sound. When the dragons looked at him, he stopped.

“Oh, sorry,” he said. “There’s just a lot of sap over here. I must be allergic.”

“I think it’s fun,” Barf said. 

“Yeah!” Belch agreed. “If they have eggs, we’ll get to test out how many explosions the shells can take!”

Meatlug’s eyes widened in horror and Toothless quickly spoke up.

“We won’t let them do that.”

“A few too many explosions before hatching is probably why they’re like that,” Hookfang remarked.

“Maybe!” Barf exclaimed, delighted by the thought. 

The Monstrous Nightmare started to tell the Hideous Zippleback that this was not a compliment and Meatlug took the opportunity to slip away. Toothless happily watched the two Gronckles leave. While the others started tending to various duties on the island, he found the Light Fury near their cave. 

“Did you find everyone?” 

“I think so,” he said, relieved. “It took a while for Stormfly or the others to sense new dragons. I think everyone’s here now. Of course, we’ll still do a few searches to be sure, but that should be it.”

When he laid down, the other dragon rested her head on him. “Good. I want you to be able to stay here and enjoy this place. There’s a lot to love about it now.”

Toothless leaned towards her. “I don’t think I really noticed it until we brought the dragons back today.”

“See? All the more reason why you should just be here and see what’s happened. Relax tomorrow,” she said. “That’s an order from the Queen of Dragons.”

Toothless let out a chortle. “Oh, so you’re queen now?”

“Naturally. The king’s my mate.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s not how it’s worked in the past.”

“None of this is how it was done in the past, so why start being traditional now?”

Toothless grinned and licked her cheek. “All right then, Your Highness, I suppose I’ll have to follow your decree.”

The Light Fury chuckled and they remained where they were, just glad to be together. As promised, Toothless stayed in the Hidden World the subsequent day. He expected to feel antsy–like he just had to get out and find someone, but he did not. The dragon felt at pace. He was not the only one. The dragons of the Hidden World had been surprised by how much fun it was to save their kin. The Berk dragons were glad to share this experience with them. They had their own team now. New dragons would join them and it seemed like friendships were developing between the teammates. Even without being on a mission, the groups enjoyed spending time together. It was becoming a true home for them all. 

Toothless looked at Deadly Nadders and Changewings making formations in the sky. Along with them, Monstrous Nightmare gel was being used to make a trail. The king knew what was going on and was glad to see that the others remembered. It was part of a welcoming ceremony and was done for the end of any week when they were able to bring back new reptiles. Every dragon had a place in it. The flightless residents grabbed sticks in their jaws, drawing pathways along the ground. This helped guide the newcomers deeper into the habitat. When they reached the center, they found a Titanwing Dramilion using its multicolored flames for this grand show. It shot straight up into the sky as the others flew and ran around, adding their flames and blasts into the spiral until a beautiful mix of colors was there.

The newcomers felt greatly welcomed by this display and it aided in making their new home feel more natural. In the past, Toothless had not stayed for an entire show. He would always find something he needed to check on, but this was nice. The king could just enjoy what the others were doing. That day, he saw the Hidden World in a different way. It was operating the way his friends had intended. The residents were living nice lives. It almost seemed too good to be true and yet this was reality. In several years, the Hidden World had a couple hundred additional dragons living there, but somehow, it was thriving. It was not overrun and the reptiles were not attacking each other. Toothless felt at ease as he flew over to keep an eye on them. His black wings perfectly blended into the night sky while he soared above the land. He felt happy–happier than he had expected to ever feel again. The Night Fury started heading down, going to his home. He licked the Light Fury’s face affectionately when he greeted her.

“I could get used to it here,” he said.

“Good, I would have been concerned if you said otherwise.”

The dragon appeared to have a glow about her that Toothless had not seen before. 

“We would have been.”

“We?”

Toothless’s eyes widened as his gaze went to the other reptile’s stomach. 

“You’re…we’re…”

Excitedly, he leapt into the air and flew, doing a loop. The Light Fury stepped out of the cave to laugh as he let out a joyous cheer.

“I’m going to be a dad!”

Just as the dragon thought he could not get any happier, life surprised him with this. There would be more Furies in the world. Toothless could not wait to meet them. Quickly, he returned to the cave and blew some plasma in an oval on the ground.

“You need to rest,” he said. 

“I don’t need to rest right now.”

“Of course you do.” Toothless looked outside. “It’s the middle of the night. You should’ve been asleep a while ago.”

“Toothless, Furies are nocturnal.”

The king just continued making a warm bed for her. “We’re diurnal until you have those eggs.” 

Getting on his hind legs, he gently patted her with his front paws. This got the other dragon to reluctantly lay down.

“I’m not tired,” she protested.

“You’re just in denial.”

Toothless started letting out a low, humming noise as he rested his head against hers.

“Are you going to be like this the whole time?” she asked.

“Probably.”

Unable to do much else, the Light Fury eventually drifted off to sleep. Toothless remained wide awake. This information was as joyous as it was terrifying. What did he know about being a parent? The Night Fury did not even remember his own. His earliest memories were of being alone, hunting for food. He did not know how to raise Night Furies–or Light Furies.

“What are they going to be?” he wondered. “Night Lights? I like the sound of that.”

He began to smile as he imagined how they would look, but his thoughts were quickly taken over by concerns once more. What if he did badly as a father? One of the hatchlings could get hurt on his watch or he might not do well teaching them how to behave. It would be a cruel twist of fate for the peace in the Hidden World to be undone by his own little dragons. The king started to carefully move away from his mate. His mind could only be cleared after a flight. Toothless crept out of the cave and started to fly. It was not long before he was joined by someone.

“You look troubled,” Skullcrusher commented.

“I am,” Toothless admitted. 

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m going to be a father.”

The Rumblehorn’s eyes widened. “I’m used to that being a good thing.”

“It’s great, but I’ve got no idea how to be a parent.”

“You and the queen will learn together.”

Toothless began to frown and the other dragon side-eyed him.

“Apparently, you don’t like the sound of that.”

“It’s just…what if we take too long to learn? We might learn after something terrible’s already happened.”

“You might.”

“One of the hatchlings could get hurt.”

“Also true.”

“That doesn’t really make me feel less worried.”

“But it’s the truth.”

Toothless let out a heavy sigh. “Remind me to not come to you for a pep talk in the future.”

The older dragon chuckled quietly. “No one’s perfect, Toothless. You can prepare for everything you can think of, but there’ll still be surprises and something will happen that you’ll wish you would’ve done better. You might as well accept that now and be willing to forgive yourself when that happens.”

Still unhappy, the soon-to-be father finally agreed. “I guess that’s true. I’d still hate to think about that.”

“Well, if it helps, ask the others what they remember about their parents. Maybe that’ll give you some ideas.”

This caused the reptile king’s eyes to brighten. “Yeah, I can do that. Thanks!”

Toothless sped up, hurrying over to his friends’ places. His first stop: the perfect dragons to get ideas for what not to do. Barf and Belch were still wide awake, headbutting each other. They seemed to be using more force than usual.

“Hi!” they greeted, continuing this game.

“What are you doing?” Toothless asked.

“We’re trying to see who gets knocked out first,” Belch said.

“Ah, well could you resume that in a couple minutes? I need you both to be conscious for now.”

“Sure,” the dragons said.

Barf made sure to get in one more bop, getting glared at by his brother as a result. 

“What’s going on?” he asked, pretending to not notice. 

“We’re going to have eggs.”

“You are?!” 

Toothless turned to the new voice. Meatlug was hovering over to them. 

“What are you doing over here?” he asked.

“I was about to go see my friend, then heard you.” She wagged her tail happily. “Congratulations! That’s amazing! You’re going to be a great father.”

Toothless’s head lowered slightly. “That’s what I’m worried about. I don’t know if I will be or not. So, I wanted to ask all of you what you remembered about what your own parents did.”

“Ours used to always let us solve our own problems,” Belch divulged.

“That’s…actually not a bad idea,” the Night Fury said, surprised. “It probably wouldn’t help to do everything for them.”

“No, but it’s also good to provide guidance,” Meatlug added. “My mom would show me which rocks were better to eat, how to avoid eels, and different things like that. Until I was big enough to take care of myself, I just followed her around.”

“Yeah, but then the babies will be clingy like Meatlug, so don’t do that, Toothless,” Barf said. 

The Gronckle frowned a little at her friends. “I’m not that clingy,” she said.

“Uh-huh! You’re always around somebody.”

Before an argument could start, Toothless spoke. “I’ll probably do a mix of the two. If it’s not overly serious, I’ll let the problems get fixed and if it’s something that I know can hurt them, I’ll guide the Night Lights.”

Immediately, Meatlug grinned. “Aw! Night Lights. I love that name!”

Toothless heard wings flapping and saw Stormfly. 

“I thought you were doing more recon,” Meatlug said.

“I was, but it wasn’t hard to hear what you were saying.” She turned to the king. “I’m happy for you two.”

“Thanks,” he stated sincerely.

Stormfly tilted her head, thinking back. “I don’t remember my parents very much, but the flock I was with used to value respect a lot. It prevented most fights because no one would go up against the elder dragons.”

“Was it out of fear?”

“I don’t think so. It seemed like we just knew that it wasn’t right to challenge them, so we didn’t. Anyone who tried was sent away.”

“That’s a bit harsh,” Toothless said, internally cringing at the thought of banishing his children.

“Maybe, but it worked.”

“What worked?” Hookfang asked, walking over. “What are you all doing?”

“What are you doing?” Stormfly retorted.

The Nightmare raised his snout indignantly. “I was here to give Barf and Belch more gel for their yak traps. Now, back to my question…”

“I was saying that banishing dragons from my flock worked to keep them from disrespecting old leaders.”

“And Toothless is going to be a dad!” Meatlug squealed. 

Hookfang’s jaw dropped. “Really? Woah.”

“Yeah, so we’re telling him about our parents,” Barf said.

The Monstrous Nightmare sat down, tapping a claw on the ground. “Hmm, well, my parents were strict. I never liked that. It just made me want to rebel against them more.”

“Good to know,” Toothless commented. He paused, going over all the advice in his mind. “So, I’ll just have to let them figure out problems except when it’s dangerous and enforce respect without being overly strict.”

Hookfang set his head down. “That sounds confusing. Glad I’m not the one who’s about to be a dad.”

His friend frowned at him and Meatlug went over to Toothless. 

“I know some foods that help the eggs develop really strong shells. I could bring some of those over for her.”

“That would be great! Thanks so much.”

Meatlug quickly went to gather these foods and Toothless went with her so that he would know in the future. That morning, the Light Fury awoke to many plants and fish in front of her. She regarded them and Toothless in amusement.

“Meatlug said these will help,” he stated, nudging a leaf towards her with his snout.

Already knowing there was no avoiding this, the other dragon began to eat. Toothless had meant every word he told her. Each day of her pregnancy, he made sure that she got rest and healthy food. At last, the expected day came. Toothless’s eyes were wide as he saw three eggs. They were scaly with a mix of black and white. The Night Fury curled up next to them, feeling a swell of pride. These were their eggs. He never thought he would get the chance to be a parent. It was nothing that he took lightly. As days passed, he and his mate switched roles. She brought him food while he stayed in the cave.

“I’m sure that if you step away for a second, they won’t hatch without you being there,” she assured him.

“I don’t want to risk it,” he said. “When they see the world for the first time, I want to be here. I’ll only get that chance once.”

“It can take a while for some eggs to hatch.”

“I’ll wait.”

Toothless could not help but smile as he rested his head near the eggs. He blew gentle flames near them to keep them warm. The father wanted his little dragons to know he already loved them. Therefore, he remained like this for nearly another week. Toothless woke up with a start when he heard the sound of cracking. His eyes widened with a mixture of excitement and panic. 

“They’re hatching!” he called out. 

The Night Fury went to the opening of the cave to repeat his call. His friends and mate speedily went to join him. Even Grump was willing to stay awake long enough. They gathered around, watching as tiny bits of shells were pushed away. When one Night Light poked its head out, the group saw that it had green eyes and more black scales than white. The next one was mostly white. Toothless happily greeted both new dragons into the world with licks. They barely knew what was happening, but they could tell that those nearby were glad to see them. 

“Welcome to the world, little ones,” the new father said. 

They gave tiny, goofy-looking grins. The group’s attention then moved to the last egg. It started to hatch as well. Once it did, a dragon with blue eyes and an even mix of black and white scales popped out. 

“Hi there,” Meatlug greeted happily. 

The other dragons started getting closer and the Night Lights moved back, curling into their mother and father. 

“It’s okay,” the Light Fury assured them. “They’re your family too.”

They glanced up at the parents, then hesitantly moved forward. They were clumsy, but Hookfang helped catch one before it fell. He pretended like it was an accident when Meatlug grinned at him. Barf and Belch let the other two Night Lights nibble on their tails and slide around. Stormfly and Cloudjumper nuzzled their heads against the king and queen.

“You’ve got a fine family,” the Deadly Nadder complimented. 

Toothless grinned, overjoyed. “I think you’re right. It might take a bit of learning, but we’re going to be just fine.”

Chapter Text

Parenthood. It was heart-warming, exciting and…oh so exhausting. Toothless had been worried about hurting the Night Lights, but he was starting to wonder if they would be the death of him instead. They would not sleep through the entire night or day. Toothless wondered when they would eventually be too tired to stay conscious. He hoped it would be soon, but there was no indication of that happening. The father just watched as the little dragons wrestled with each other, acting like they had not just spent the entire morning climbing on various parts of the cave. One Night Light pounced another, gnawing at his ear flap. 

“No gnawing on your brother,” Toothless chided.

“But Dad,” the hatchling whined, “it’s fun!”

“Yeah!” the gnaw victim agreed, starting to run around.

Their sister was in the back, hiding in the shadows. When she saw an opening, she darted forward and tackled both of her brothers. They yelped, then started chasing her when she rolled off of them. Toothless tried to get in the middle, pawing the green-eyed and black dragon. As soon as he did, the mostly white dragon hopped onto a free paw of his father’s. He did this as the sister kept running in a circle around them. Toothless sighed heavily before looking at his mate. She put a paw over her snout as she chuckled.

“Thanks so much for your help,” the king said sarcastically.

“Oh, you’re doing perfectly, Dear.”

“If a Bewilderbeast couldn’t control hatchlings, I’m not sure why I thought I could,” Toothless commented, feeling a tackle on his tail. 

He looked down at the little dragons. They had been alive for a few weeks and something was missing. 

“We need to name them.”

The Light Fury glanced at him in surprise. “Names? We don’t really need those.”

“It seems odd to just call them Night Lights. I won’t always be able to call them hatchlings either.”

“You can call me Son!” the dragon on Toothless’s tail suggested.

The king chuckled and brought his tail forward to look at the reptile. “I could, but then you wouldn’t know if I was talking to you or your brother.”

“Oh yeah.”

The blue-eyed dragon beamed. “I’m the only daughter, so I’d know.”

Her brothers let out little warbles of complaint.

“I think it’ll just be easier if you all have official names.”

“Mommy doesn’t have one.”

“No, but a great friend of mine gave me one.” 

“Really?”

“Yes, I used to not go by anything, but I really like ‘Toothless’ now. Your aunts and uncles got names later in life too.”

Toothless turned to the Light Fury again. She seemed open to the idea. It was a bit strange for dragons to give each other names like humans would, but it was harmless. 

“What kinds of names would you like? Little Toothless?” she asked. 

The king chuckled at the pouty faces of the hatchlings. “No, nothing like that, but I do want it to describe them in some way.”

Toothless looked at the trio, moving his paw off the one. As soon as he did, the mostly white dragon tackled his brother again.

“Pouncer,” the father said. “Definitely Pouncer.”

This made Pouncer appear proud of his new name. Toothless turned his attention to his daughter. She had not stopped speeding around the cave, but her other brother had started pursuing her.

“Dart,” Toothless added. “All that speed that she has makes it work for her. And finally…Ruffrunner. You’ve been running around a lot too, but you’re scrappy.”

“Yeah! I’m scrappy!” Ruffrunner declared happily.

The Light Fury smiled and went over to her mate. “Barf and Belch will be happy when they hear the first half of his name.” 

Toothless nuzzled his head against hers. “I’m sure of it. What do you think?”

“I like their names.”

“We do too!” the triplets cheered.

They began play-fighting again, but Toothless thought of a way to get them to stop. 

“We’re going out,” he said. 

“We are?” Ruffrunner asked.

“Yes, we’ll visit Meatlug and her family. I almost forgot that she invited us over to do a team flight class.”

Immediately, the Night Lights started looking nervous.

“We’re gonna have to fly?” Dart asked. 

“What if we fall?” Pouncer inquired.

“We’ll be there to catch you,”  his mother assured him.

The siblings still looked nervous, but they could see the confidence on their parents’ faces. They trusted that the leaders would not try to do anything to cause them to get hurt. 

“Okay,” Pouncer said. “I guess it’ll be fun to see Auntie Meatlug too.”

“And it’ll be the push she needs to get those hatchlings of hers to fly,” Toothless mentioned to his mate.

She let out a warble of agreement and the family started heading out of the cave. The Night Lights still were so new to the world, but they always loved going into their habitat. They had many questions about the dragons around them, the plants, the water, and anything else they could sense. Fortunately, it was known that any of these questions (and many more that they did not even think of) would be answered by their honorary aunt. When they reached the rocky home, the family saw a group of Gronckles.

“You made it!” Meatlug greeted excitedly. 

Beside her was her mate. The other dragon was trying to wrangle a cluster of tiny Gronckles. When he noticed the others, he gave them a tired grin.

“Glad you all could join us. I’ve been trying to get Meatlug to agree that we need to teach them how to fly.”

“They’re so young, though,” the mother commented, going over to nuzzle her head against a hatchling. 

“They’re two weeks older than the Night Lights,” her partner reminded her.

Meatlug hesitated. “They are, but…but they’re our hatchlings. I don’t want them to get hurt and fall.”

At that, Pouncer looked horrified. “I knew we were gonna fall! Even Auntie’s worried.”

Realizing what she had done, Meatlug sent an apologetic look to the other parents. 

“It’s going to be alright,” Toothless insisted. “Flying is easy. It comes naturally. You’ll see.”

Still looking doubtful, the triplets went over to the mini Gronckles. The bumpy hatchlings were eager to begin playing with them. Toothless wondered how the young dragons could already forget their worries in such a short time. 

“Is that normal?” he asked. 

“It is,” Meatlug assured him. “Hatchlings live in the moment. Their memories will get better as they grow.”

“For now,” the other Gronckle said, “we’ll just have to keep them on track.”

He hovered over to the little reptiles, scooping up several in his mouth. They were delighted by this and grinned as he started bringing the Gronckles into the air. Meatlug grabbed those he could not carry, then the triplets looked at their parents. Toothless carried their sons in his paws while the Light Fury got Dart. 

“They’re gonna drop us,” Pouncer lamented.

“I’m ready for it!” Ruffrunner exclaimed, even though his eyes were tightly shut.

“We’re not going to drop you,” Toothless assured the hatchlings. 

To his dismay, he saw Meatlug’s mate open his mouth more. It caused some of the Gronckles to slide out. As soon as they did, the Night Lights roared in horror. Meatlug also looked horrified, but the hatchlings were fast to flap their wings. Long before they were anywhere near the ground, they were flying.

“We’re doing it!” one of them cheered, clumsily flying towards her father.

“Knew that you could!” he told her.

Meatlug felt like she could breathe again, then noticed the Gronckles in her mouth moving forward to get a better look.

“I wanna try!”

“Me too!”

Very slowly, Meatlug started to let the dragons climb out. They squealed in delight and flapped their wings. Soon, happy roars were coming from all of them. It made the Night Lights want to try as well. 

“They’re really flying,” Dart said, impressed. 

“See?” Toothless commented. “Told you that it’s not difficult.”

The Furies kept flying until they reached the top of a cave. Once there, the parents set down their hatchlings. The trio rushed forward, looking over the edge with intrigue. It was both scary and exciting. Their friends had done this. They could as well. To help, Toothless stepped one paw off the cliff, then another as his wings flapped. The Light Fury did the same on the other side of the young reptiles.

“We’ll be right here to catch you,” the king stated.

Taking a deep breath, Ruffrunner ran back, then charged for the edge. His wings started flapping and his legs moved wildly.

“Woah!” he cried.

It felt so bizarre, but he realized something. He was doing it. 

“Dad! Mom! I’m flying!” he exclaimed, laughing in glee.

“Look at you!” Toothless encouraged warmly.

Ruffrunner started flying towards his siblings. “You’ve gotta try this!”

Dart was the next to go forward. She flapped her wings and started to see how fast she could go. The Night Light nearly flew into her father’s side, but she stopped herself in time. 

“This is fun!” she admitted, darting around more.

Not wanting to be left out, Pouncer leapt into the air as well. It took him the longest to sync up his wings so that they would flap together. Toothless came up beside him to make sure that he would not hit the ground just in case something went wrong. Happily, the father saw the wings move in unison. Pouncer began going higher in the air and beamed.

“I can do it too!”

The triplets flew around each other, trying to spar in the air. 

“Good to know that it won't matter if they’re on the ground or not,” the Light Fury said. “They’re always going to be play-fighting.”

Toothless chuckled in agreement as he watched them and the young Gronckles. The group continued to fly for a while longer until the parents saw that the hatchlings were getting very tired. 

“I think this is enough for today,” Toothless said, leading to a chorus of “aw”s. 

“Just a few more minutes,” Ruffrunner requested.

“Not this time. You’ve been flying all day. Let’s head down.”

The king led the way and was followed by the other dragons. On the way, he sensed Stormfly approaching. 

“The Hidden World has some new flyers,” she commented. “Good.”

“You should’ve seen them in the beginning,” Toothless quietly told her, making the Deadly Nadder chuckle.

The Night Lights went over to her and Dart landed on her head near the horn crown.

“We’re neat now!” she exclaimed. “We’re gonna know how to do everything Mom and Dad can do.”

“Yeah!” Pouncer agreed. “We’ll be shooting plasma at everything before you know it!”

“I’m sure that you will,” Stormfly said. 

“And then we’ll explore and see the world like you all did!”

Hearing this, the friends turned to the triplets in surprise.

“What?” Toothless asked.

“You know, with the humans,” Ruffrunner added. “Everybody in the Hidden World talks about that.”

“Everybody?” the queen asked.

“Well…maybe not everybody. Uncle Barf and Uncle Belch. They talk about it a lot.”

“Of course they do,” Meatlug said, sighing softly.

“It sounded like so much fun!” Pouncer admitted. “You got to save a bunch of dragons from bad Vikings and even would carry good Vikings on your backs. I wanna do that one day.”

“Well, those days are in the past,” Toothless said. “We don’t let Vikings ride on our backs anymore.”

“Why not?”

“It’s to keep us safe. That’s why we live here away from everyone.”

“Aw! I wanted to meet that one-legged Viking. He was like you with your tail, Dad,” Dart commented, disappointed. 

“He is. He’s the one who made the tail I’m using.”

“Really?”

“Barf and Belch didn’t tell you that part?”

“No, they just talked about the explody moments,” Ruffrunner stated.

“I guess that’s not much of a surprise.” Toothless paused, a thoughtful look crossing his face. “We’re going to find your other uncles and see if they want to be part of a story time.”

This made the little dragons’ eyes brighten. The group went to the center of the island while Stormfly quickly went to retrieve the other reptiles. Grump sleepily was walking towards them.

“Why did I have to get up?”

“I wanted to see if you all would be up for sharing some stories with the Night Lights and little Gronckles about our time before coming here.”

Immediately, Hookfang puffed up proudly. “If you want stories, I’m your dragon. I’ve got plenty from back then. The amount of times I’ve lit Snotlout on fire…” The Monstrous Nightmare started to have a bright twinkle in his eyes. “Sometimes, I can still see his roasting trousers when I close my eyes.”

“Don’t forget about all the battles we’ve had,” Skullcrusher added. “Some of our enemies were really powerful, but we were always able to stop them. We just had to find the best plan.”

“And remember the explosions!” Barf cheered.

“So many, but never enough,” Belch chimed in.

Grump yawned loudly. “I liked the calmer moments with Gobber. I could just sleep while he worked by the forge, then eat whatever he didn’t want or need. It was nice. You don’t find scrap metal like that around here.”

“It was nice when I met you all too,” Cloudjumper admitted. “Nobody made me feel like an outsider.” He looked at the hatchlings. “I was from a different flock, but your parents and their friends welcomed me like I’d always been one of them. It meant a lot.”

Hookfang held in a smile. “No need to get all serious on us. Your sniffing habits took some getting used to, but once that was done, the rest was easy.”

“What made it easier was how the Berkians got us to see so many new kinds of dragons,” Meatlug shared. “For a while there, we were finding new species every week.”

“Was it ever scary?” one of her hatchlings asked.

“Never!’ Hookfang boldly declared.

His friends turned to him, eyes full of doubt.

“Maybe sometimes,” he admitted. “Barely. Not to me.”

“It was mostly a lot of fun,” Barf said.

“We helped the Berkians get stronger and they did the same for us,” Stormfly added. 

“We were a true team,” Toothless mentioned, smiling slightly.

A look of uncertainty appeared on the Night Lights’ faces. 

“Then,” Dart started, “why’d you all leave?”

A brief silence hit the group. 

“There was another Viking,” Toothless divulged. “He was responsible for the Night Furies and Light Furies nearly going extinct. We defeated him, but he made us realize that it was just too dangerous to stay. We’d bring more violent humans to Berk and cause our friends to get hurt. Berk was starting to get overpopulated with dragons anyway, so it was just time to leave.”

“Don’t you miss everybody?” Pouncer asked.

“Of course,” Meatlug answered. “Every day.”

“But we work through it,” Skullcrusher said. “We’ve handled worse.”

“Do we have to stay hidden forever?” Ruffrunner inquired. “Couldn’t we just go into the rest of the world every once in a while? We could be stealthy. We probably wouldn’t get seen by anybody.”

This caused the friends to feel unsure. They had grown so accustomed to the Hidden World. Going back out would be strange.

“I think we should,” the queen said, surprising the others. 

“You do?” Stormfly asked.

“Yes. They’re right. A short expedition won’t be dangerous. All of you had longer ones when we were trying to get the rest of the dragons to come here. We don’t have to make a habit of this, but it could be nice for the hatchlings to see what the world has to offer.”

The young dragons cheered happily upon hearing this. Toothless thought over it, then nodded.

“Alright. Tomorrow morning, we’ll go. Like you said, there’s no harm in going out from time to time. It’s good to get new surroundings.”

The hatchlings kept cheering, joyfully tackling each other. Their emotions were more plainly felt than their adult counterparts. To these dragons, they were not sure what they felt. Excitement? Maybe. Uncertainty? Most likely. They told several stories of their adventures with the Dragon Riders before it was time for the hatchlings to get ready for bed. Toothless was sure that the Night Lights would protest, but to his shock, they were ready to sleep. They wanted to be wide awake for the next day and if going to sleep meant it came faster, they would do just that. While they rested, Toothless decided that he felt indifferent. It was simpler to feel that way than to admit to himself that he desperately wanted the next day to end. Not so much because he disliked the idea of being out of the Hidden World, but because the end of the day would bring answers with it. He would know exactly how everything had gone. That was knowledge he craved but did not possess. At last, the day came to provide him with these. He did not have to awaken the young Night Lights. They were the ones who got him up. 

“We’re gonna explore!” they shouted, ecstatic. 

It was difficult to not share a sliver of their enthusiasm. Toothless found himself smiling as he and the Light Fury left the cave with them. The other dragons gradually got up to join their companions near the entryway of the Hidden World. Sharing a glance, the group took off. They flew for a short while. None of them wanted to tire out the new flyers too badly. The young dragons were thrilled with everything they saw. The ocean was shimmering in the sunrise and the sky was filled with so many colors. Below them were the clouds that looked fluffy enough to land on. Suddenly, Stormfly tilted her head. Toothless notice and tensed up. He knew what this meant. Vikings. They were close to the Hidden World. 

“Everyone, stay here,” he instructed. 

The Night Fury dove down, spotting a small land mass. He wanted to get a good view of the humans first. That way, he could determine how best to attack if necessary. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the other Furies heading down with him. He could have tried to get them to go back, but that would have just caused more of a scene and drawn attention. So, Toothless reluctantly landed with them. They saw a ship. Immediately, Toothless flew forward and landed on part of the vessel. It was a good thing that they had gone out that day. Now, he could ensure that the lives of his dragons were protected. He would get rid of this threat. The Night Fury looked at the group. How dangerous were they? He saw two children. One was blond and the other had auburn hair. They matched their parents. Toothless thought of his own young ones and did not attack. He just needed a way to make the Vikings leave, but he would not kill anyone in front of their children. The king only needed a proper solution: intimidation. He could use that to frighten the family away without hurting them. Gradually, Toothless neared the man and got on his hind legs. To his surprise, the Viking did not back away. He was actually talking, but Toothless was not paying attention to what he was saying. The king of dragons just needed him to leave…then there was that move.

“Hiccup?” Toothless asked, pupils widening. 

The Viking’s hand was outstretched to Toothless’s snout. Only one Viking did that when he saw a Night Fury. Toothless started to feel warmth in his heart. It was overwhelming. It seemed too good to be true.

“Hiccup!” he exclaimed happily, tackling the Berkian.

They played on the ground and Toothless ran around the ship excitedly. When Hiccup tried to sit back up, the dragon playfully knocked him back. He heard Astrid laughing behind them.

“It’s so good to see you!” Toothless admitted. “It’s been ages! I can’t believe I almost didn’t recognize you. That beard of yours distracted me.” More excitement filled him as he pawed and nuzzled next to Hiccup’s face. “Quit moving so much,” he lightly chastised. “I’m trying to get a better look at you. What else changed? It looks like your clothes are different now.” He licked his friend’s face. “It’s just so good to see you. I’ve missed you.”

Toothless smiled brightly at Hiccup as the Viking held out his hands. The Night Fury was happy to lick those as well. It was amazing to be reunited with his best friend. Finally, he let the Viking breathe and glanced behind him. Astrid appeared a bit different from how he had recalled too, but his attention was mostly on the two little Vikings.

“You’re a dad too!” he commented. “They remind me of you when you were little.”

The children looked absolutely terrified of him, hiding near their mother. Gently, she started bringing them over to the friends. Hiccup showed them how to hold their hands and Toothless waited patiently. He was ready to greet the mini Berkians, but he did not want to interfere with a lesson. He knew how difficult it was to teach young ones, so he would not ruin this for Hiccup. When they were ready, he pressed his snout against their hands. Just like their parents. He could tell that they would be friends to his family as well. It was only natural. Immediately, the children were delighted. Their eyes were filled with joy and their faces had broken into smiles. Toothless turned his head slightly to where the rest of the dragons were.

“It’s safe!” he called out.

The other reptiles came forward. With wide eyes, the Berkians greeted the dragons. Stormfly flew over to Astrid, getting a hug on her snout. 

“I missed you,” the Nadder said. 

The other dragons looked around, not seeing the rest of the Berkians. 

“I’ll be back,” Hookfang said. “I’m going to try to find Snotlout.”

Meatlug had a brightness in her eyes as she spoke. “And I’m going to find Fishlegs.”

Barf and Belch headbutted happily. “Ruff, Tuff, here we come!”

The king wished them luck as they flew to New Berk to find their companions. It was something that they all deserved. While they did this, Toothless Fury eagerly offered to provide a ride to Hiccup's son.

“I thought we didn’t offer rides, Dad!” Pouncer remembered.

“I can make exceptions sometimes,” Toothless admitted.

Hiccup’s eyes moved to the Night Lights and he smiled, going over to them. “You’re also a dad now, Bud?” 

“Yeah,” Toothless answered even though he knew he would not be understood. “They know how to keep us busy. Pouncer, Dart, Ruffrunner, meet another uncle and aunt of yours. They’re Hiccup and Astrid.”

Excitedly, the Night Lights flew over to the Dragon Riders. They enjoyed how the humans could pet them. Hiccup’s arms felt warm as he held the baby dragons. Toothless could see that his friend loved them nearly as much as he did and he already knew that he felt the same about the young Berkians. Hiccup and his son got on the dragon’s back, then Toothless took off. There was that weight again. It had not felt right to fly alone. Ten years and nothing could make the Night Fury forget what it was like to be around the Berkian. They soared through the skies, getting joined by Stormfly who flew with Astrid and their daughter. The children would trade, hopping from dragon to dragon. Toothless could do nothing but smile.

“They’re Dragon Riders alright,” he said. “It’s in the blood.”

“I hope the others have luck with finding the rest of the Berkians,” the Light Fury stated.

“I’m sure they will. This is going to be the best day they’ve had in a while.” 

Toothless had a goofy grin on his face that amused the queen.

“And what does that look mean?”

“That our family got even bigger.” Toothless started going towards Stormfly, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. “We haven’t raced in a while. I bet that I’m still the fastest.”

“If you are, it’s just because Astrid hasn’t been giving me chicken.”

“No excuse. We have some back in the Hidden World.”

“Then I guess I’ll be winning.”

“Only one way to find out.”

The friends started flying faster, filled with joy. They had stayed separate for too long. It was time for another change. They did not have to permanently leave the Hidden World, but days like those could be spent with the Berkians. They were family too. Toothless was determined to protect his entire family and that would always include the first individual he viewed as a brother. The dragons’ world would be hidden to some and shared with others. This was an official decree from the king.