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The air tasted of peppermint on his tongue, heavy-laden with the chill of the clouds slicing through his clothing and biting at his cheeks. His hair whipped back, auburn fire painted with white setting alight the bright skies. The world twisted and turned into a menagerie of colors, blurring into a mosaic of confusion. A titillation filled his chest, bursting with the freedom of tasting the savor of the skies.
The ocean sparked below, greeting them with tantalizing patterns as though the surface held thousands of flickering stars, waves pulling from the shores of nearby land, as if to greet them; to join them. Wings twisted, pulling them into a tight spiral, dipping downwards as they hurdled like a spear towards the sea.
Hiccup pulled on his saddle, fingers that barely felt the worn leather under callouses as scarred as the saddle he held ached slightly. Waves which so eagerly touched the sky grazed great leathery wings as they rippled outwards, unfurling like a great tapestry and gathering wind beneath them, pulling them up and, with one mighty flap, back into spectrum of pinks and whites.
Hiccup couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled out of his throat as he fought to keep his eyes open against the mighty winds, harsh yet entirely welcome on his exposed skin. Armor which had been hidden for months brought out just for today sat snug on his body, pulling slightly at the joints, yet fitting still. It held onto his skin like an old friend, the smell of leather and petrichor almost inebriating to his senses. The rider squeezed his legs against his dragon, pulling lightly backwards to slow their ascent, then pulled entirely back, head falling backwards.
In one heart-stuttering moment, they froze in the air, then twisted back entirely, bodies going limp as they let gravity take them, a whoop of glee coming from both rider and dragon.
They were hurling back to the ground in a free-fall; black and brown, wings pointed to the sky and arms open as the wind caressed them, laughing in their ears as she fought against their descent, the water rippling far far below.
Hiccup soared, looking to the waves with no fear, eyes delighted as he turned his head, their own green hue locked onto the dragon’s own similar shade, glee dancing in them with an exact synchrony. The dragon’s tongue lolled out, whipping against the wind, much like Hiccup's hair Hiccup chuckled.
Despite the years, despite the way his bones ached and his dragon lacked most of his scales, the way their eyes gleamed with a milky hue—it felt as if nothing had changed.
A man and a dragon. One. Only they existed, only they remained. The last dragon and dragon rider.
The dragon turned in the air and away from the gaze of his rider, closing his wings in as he dove and curling around Hiccup. With the grace of a thousand failures, the dragon cleanly placed the man on his saddle. Hiccup himself turned with grace as he ignored the ache in his muscles, joining onto the saddle once more, riding attachment locking into place smoothly. The tail, one that hadn’t seen use in many many years, eagerly jumped up at his command, flaring into the skies its crest of red in a sea of colors which stretched across the world, setting the sky on fire.
It had been many years, many long, tired nights. A burden of two worlds weighed on them, the loss of the other a heartbreak they could never hope to fill. Both knew the risks. Both did not care.
It was not a spur-of-the-moment decision for Hiccup. No, he had planned this for a long, long time. He dreamed of the skies, the wind, the home he left. He was never the same after the dragon's departure, but he stayed strong all the same in their memory.
Now, after all these years, he had given his all to his people, the heart of a chief long having finished it’s duty, handing the burden to the next generation. Through the years, his soul of a dragon only yearned more, his body spent. Nights left on cliff-sides, looking through the stars for shapes long forgotten to time, days with gaze locked on the clouds that gleamed blue and pink and yellow, a childlike glee filling his aging bones as regrets tugged at him.
Soon the waves would take him home, but he refused. Not until tonight. One night. This night.
Astrid was against it at first, then reluctantly supportive. She perhaps, thought she understood, her words of dragon wings and great battles flowing on the camp-side and through the great hall, but Hiccup did not wish for the glory of battle, he wished for the simple touch of his friend, green eyes glistening with the light of a thousand stars. He smiled at his children that night. His friends. His family. He was gone without much word. Nothing else needed to be said.
Toothless met him halfway.
After all this time, Hiccup could only feel pure joy.
And oh, could there ever be anything greater than this dance? To taste the skies sweet fragrance? To touch the stars?
One last taste of alabaster clouds sweet with peppermint, cold dripping down across his skin as he breathed, his chest rattling with age. They soared, old bones under weak skin, a smile as fragile as time on his mottled lips.
Hiccup’s fingers creaked under the worn saddle, metal groaning alongside the arms that once wielded a flaming sword against great armies, or a helping hand to friends-the weight of the world melted off thin muscles like morning frost, fingers splaying out wide as he felt the caress of the wind under his arms-his wings. His back ached from the poor posture riding demanded, his bones nearly crying at the mighty winds. His hair whipped and his eyes watered.
No, Hiccup thought, there was nothing greater than this.
Toothless crooned his agreement, his leathery skin rippling under Hiccup as he too breathed, worn wings rippling with the current of the whistling winds.
One last dance.
They dove, down to the ocean and spiraled underneath one of the waves. The wave beamed up at them, reaching towards them with every breath. They turned, icy water splattering across old leathery wings as they soared upwards again, dipping behind a cloud and soaring higher. Higher. A dragon and his rider. One.
They disappeared, among the stars.
The earth hummed around them and the sky roared as the two who were one returned home.
It was as though they ceased to exist. Consumed by the waves, many said. One moment there, the next gone. Through time, memory turned to myth. Some thought Hiccup and Toothless were folktales, great warriors who fell in battle. Some said their souls were deemed too great, and they simply were moved into the great halls of Valhalla. Some said they were returned to the skies, where they belonged, many swearing they still saw their forms dancing through the stars, watching the world grow old side by side, helping wary travelers and protecting the world of dragons from ever reaching humans again.
Some, like Astrid, simply watched the stars, mouth pulled in a small smile as the stars blinked back at her. Wherever he was, he was back with his dragon.
And that was exactly where he belonged.