One minute passed, then five, then ten. I felt myself fading, leaving. I closed my eyes as Toothless nuzzled me one last time.

A faint white light appeared as a dot in my field of view, then grew bigger. It had just about blotted everything out when something went pop! inside me. There was a sensation of something being sucked out of me, as if the blood was being drained from all my veins at one time. The light faded back into darkness, and I had a moment of terror. Was I not going to heaven? Was I going to the opposite of that wonderful place above the world?

Then, I felt my heart rate slowly increase in speed. Strength flooded back through my limbs, and I felt fresh, clean, rejuvenated. My eyelids fluttered, and I saw my arms. No longer were they covered in welts, burns, and scratches. They were as they were before. As I opened my eyes fully, I saw Toothless, staring at me in awe. “How…..the sand…..it just, lifted off you in a cloud of dust…..” Then he began to cry, only this time in elation. When I saw Mist run up next to Toothless, I pushed myself upward into a sitting position and grinned at her. She slowly began laughing hysterically, and her dragon wings flared joyously. She flew into the air and twirled before accidentally firing a plasma blast from her mouth. She landed, her pale, freckled cheeks turning bright red. Toothless erupted into a fit of laughter and began writhing on the grass, snorting and guffawing. I couldn’t help it; I tried not to laugh hard, but couldn’t hold it in and nearly busted a gut.

Mist ran up to me and hugged me hard. I purred and leaned into her shoulder.

“I am so glad you’re okay, Paint. But you sure did miss a lot!”

“Yeah, I bet,” I said. Then I noticed her arm, after being black and swollen when she was having those nightmares, was healed. “Hey, your arm looks better! That’s great!” Mist nodded, and looked at Toothless, who was still giggling and holding his stomach.

“Shouldn’t you be taking care of your mate, Toothless? Instead of making fun of me?,” Mist chastised.

Toothless stopped rolling around and sat upward, his cheeks flushing bright red. I shot him a seductive grin and Mist and I exchanged glances. She winked at me.

“I’ll let you two be alone. Jack might have come back from the dead, but I still need to care for his side. And I want to know how my tears healed Hiccup.”

Toothless and I gaped at Mist.

“Jack died?,” I said.

“Hiccup was injured and healed by tears?,” Toothless demanded, protective of his best friend.

Mist laughed at our astonished reactions.

“I’ll explain everything later. For now, I am going to care for my family. And that includes you two,” she said, flying back to the building where Hiccup and Jack were.

(Toothless)

After Mist left us alone, I glanced at Paintsplash. She had her head turned in Mist’s direction, watching her leave. Paint looked so beautiful sitting there, the moonlight cascading down her back and head. She was so pretty, so flawless. I couldn’t imagine anyone ever wanting to hurt her.

But then, some people are just monsters, as are some dragons (cough cough, Cinderpaw).

I looked at the ground and drew random scribbles in the dirt with my claws, feeling suddenly awkward.

Then two gray paws took mine in theirs.

Paintsplash smiled at me as she held my paws in hers. I could feel my cheeks burning.

“Toothless…..”

I managed a grin, keeping my teeth retracted on purpose. “Y-yeah?,” I stuttered.

“Thank you,” Paint said.

“For what?,” I questioned, confused.

“For being there when I need you. You’ve never left my side the entire time we’ve been together.”

“Yeah, but-”

She pressed a claw to my lips. “The times we have been apart, Toothless,” she whispered, “were because of accidents. Accidents happen. But…..” At this point she leaned in closer so her mouth was by my ear. “……meeting you? That wasn’t an accident. Someone planned that. Someone wants us together for the rest of our lives, and not just you or I.”

My heart was racing by this time, and my paws felt clammy. I knew my cheeks were bright red.

Paintsplash pulled back and gave me a small, seductive smile that really made my heart pound. “Everyone has a guardian angel, Toothless,” she said. “I’m yours…” My wings started to tremble and my cheeks should’ve been on fire by this time. “And you’re mine.”

Before I knew what happened, Paint’s lips were locked with mine and her forelegs were wrapped around my neck.

I didn’t know what to do; this only happened once before, and that was all Stormfly’s fault.

I assumed Paintsplash knew how to do this because of her life as a human, but, what did I know about it?

Then I remember watching Hiccup and Astrid, all those times they did this.

So, I closed my eyes and kissed Paintsplash back, wrapping my wings and forelegs around her.

After a few minutes of this, Paintsplash pulled away and hugged me. I hugged her back.

But, out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of a dragon-like wisp of smoke following a shadow along the ridge.

Behind them was a small dark lump and I thought I saw a horse.

But then I looked back.

And they were gone.