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epilogue, iii
a forbidden friendship

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    AS THE EVENING got closer, and the pageant was about to begin, Valkyrie was alone in preparing the trout for Toothless. She set it above the fireplace with a soft sigh, knowing it would be another year where they would throw it out the next morning▬letting the children believe that dragons had actually come and eaten their food. Every year, deep down, a part of Valkyrie hoped and believed with them; to think that maybe one might venture out into the vast ocean and make their way back here ... she set a flower crown beside it, her fingers lingering on the winter petals. She sighed yet again. Hiccup was right, all of this talk about dragons brought back so many memories ... so many moments Valkyrie cherished; like the warmth of Zephyr's scales, or the way he'd peer at her with that mischievous gaze. She fixed a few of his favourite flowers, feeling a fresh wave of sadness. 

    "Mum?"

     Valkyrie jumped, startled, at the sound of Leiv's voice. She turned around, pushing a smile on her face to see him standing there, unsure at the end of the hallway. He hugged his fur coat to his chest, for his father told him he needed to wear one for tonight. She took a deep breath, "Hey, honey▬" she said gently. "Are you excited about tonight?"

     He frowned at her. He hugged his furs tighter, "Are you okay?" he asked his mother. "You look sad."

    Val's brows lifted. She breathed another smile, her heart warming up. She wandered over and crouched to her sons height, reaching out to cup his cheeks, "Oh, no, Muma's okay." She kissed his wild red curls. "You don't need to worry about me."

    She took his furs from his little hands and fastened the warm fleece around his shoulders. Valkyrie fixed it under his chin and flattened some of the fluff on his chest. Her heart ached for a moment▬to see them all growing up, so fast. The years have gone by, and now, here she was, in a place far from where she thought she would have ended up ... but happy all the same. Valkyrie pinched Leiv's freckled cheeks and he squirmed, complaining a long: "Mum..."

     She did her best to fix his curls, though like all of their children, Leiv had his father's unruly hair that never stayed in the same spot. Valkyrie smiled at him, then, she thought of something. "Hey," she began, shifting so she could sit cross-legged on the fur rug by the embers of the fire. She held out a hand to her son, "Come here, buba."

     Leiv smiled and happily stepped into his mother's arms, letting himself be sat on her lap▬for once happy to not be a big kid just yet. Valkyrie squeezed him sweetly, resting her head against his small one. "I want to tell you a secret," she whispered to her son. 

     His eyes widened, "A secret?"

     "Yeah," she nodded. "I want you to know the story that you will watch tonight▬the real story, just between you and me."

     Leiv's face lit up, "I won't tell anyone!" he grinned. "I'll keep me lips shut, I will▬!" he clamped a hand over his lips just to prove his point. Valkyrie chuckled. 

     Then, she relaxed with her son in front of the dying fire, and in the glowing embers, she imagined little Fireworm dragons keeping them warm. "Once," she said to Leiv, "there were dragons. There were huge sea dragons, little scuttly dragons, tall, long-necked forest dragons and pure white icy dragons. They had claws. And they had teeth. And they breathed fire. And just like you little ones, I was scared of them. We all wanted to fight them. To trap them and keep them away from our homes."

     Little Leiv gaped, horrified. "So why do you let them in for Snoggletog? Why did you stop trapping them?!"

     Valkyrie smiled. "Because one day, came along a young boy," she continued, and her son hung onto every word. "He was small, and he was hopeless, and his helmet was always crooked. He couldn't lift an axe for the life of him! But just because he was small▬" she poked her son's sides and he giggled, "▬didn't mean he wasn't brave. That small boy one day met a dragon in the woods. And instead of trapping the dragon, he set him free. After that, this boy kept returning to the woods. He brought the dragon trout, and he brought him salmon, and herring ... until one day, he earned the dragon's trust. The small Viking boy and this dragon became friends. That Viking built this dragon a saddle, and a new tail, and he decided that instead of fighting dragons, he would fly on the back of one. He showed the entire village of Berk that dragons could be gentle, intelligent creatures. That they loved belly rubs and getting their teeth brushed. That they would do anything for a Viking they cared about. And we would do anything for them. This Viking showed me that even with their claws, and their teeth, and their fire, dragons are loyal, and they are protective, and they could become family. They do not need to feared, or be trapped. Instead, they should be loved."

    Leiv stared at her, his mouth agape and his eyes wide. In a whisper of awe, he asked: "Who was the small Viking? Who was he, Muma?"

    "Well," his mother tucked his hair behind his ears, "you have his nose. And you have his freckles▬one, two, three, four▬" she pointed them out on his cheeks and Leiv giggled again. "You have his chin and his ears▬" she nudged each part she said. Then she tapped her son's chest. "You have his big heart."

    Together, the mother and son gazed up at trout and the flower crown▬under the shadow of a tapestry made of a dragon as black as the night. "Your father," Valkyrie continued, "saved the dragons. In return, they saved him. They saved all of us. And yeah, they may be gone, for now. But one day, when the earth trembles and the sky shakes, the dragons will come back. And they'll need Vikings to know that they do not need to fear them. They need us all to remember how to love them, so they can love us in return."

    Leiv was awestruck. He held a gasp in his chest. Like he was speaking a secret, he leaned in close to Valkyrie and said in a soft whisper, "Dad did all of that?"

    "He did," smiled Valkyrie Haddock. "He made it so, that forever and ever, Vikings and dragons will always be friends▬no matter where we are." She rubbed Leiv's shoulders. "There is no reason for you ever to be afraid of them, honey. Because when you find a dragon, and you look into its eyes, Leiv, you see yourself. And then you realise that there is nothing to be scared about."

    When she saw the bright, awestruck gleam in her son's eyes, Valkyrie knew that for the first time since they decided on this pageant, something had worked out right. 

    Valkyrie and Leiv returned to the pageant stage together. When they arrived, most of it was all done and ready. The backdrops were set up, the shield lights were prepared with Vikings manning them from ladders. The costumes were already donned and she couldn't help but laugh when she saw Tuffnut dressed in a large, floppy old green tunic. The costume for Toothless was set up on side stage, and she smiled, unable to wait for the moment their kids see Hiccup in that suit, and be absolutely wonderstruck. She led Leiv over to his siblings who were still taking the front row seats as Vikings gathered from all over the village to sit and watch. Linnea was silent and to herself, sharpening up a new stick with her dagger. Kåre saw Valkyrie and bounded over, "Muma! Muma! Auntie Astrid's belly moved!" 

    "I wanna feel!" announced Leiv and left Valkyrie's side in an instant, sprinting over to Astrid who chuckled, holding out her arms to greet her nephew. Kåre saw him and gasped, stumbling to catch up and get another turn at feeling the baby. 

    Valkyrie let them go and wandered over to the stage where Gobber's mournful wails were getting louder and louder. She stepped up beside her husband, watching as he tried his best to calm his old mentor down. Hiccup sighed, "Gobber▬" he tried for the umpteenth time. The old blacksmith let out a rather loud (and ear-piecing) sobbing cry. He held up a hand to give him a minute. Hiccup huffed, his cheeks flushed in exasperation. "Gobber, the pageant's tonight. Are you ... uh ..." he watched Gobber wipe at his snot-filled beard. Valkyrie made a face, disgusted, "... sure you're gonna be able to do this?"

     Gobber hiccuped back another sob. He wiped away his tears with a fat fingers. "I hope it wasn't noticeable!" he cried miserably. 

     Hiccup and Val shared a quick look. 

    "You know..." began Hiccup, shrugging, "I▬it is..." Gobber heaved a blubbering cry. He weeped into his hands. The Chief of New Berk winced, "Oh, Gods..." he muttered to himself. "O▬okay, okay, Gobber?" the old Viking glanced up, his eyes rimmed with red. "Gobber, just▬think of the kids!" he gestured back to where the children sat with Astrid. Leiv was now having a competition with his cousin Luk to see who could hit their heads' harder on the wooden seats. "We're doing this for them!"

     "Aye, Hiccup," sobbed Gobber. He nodded. "Brilliant, as always. Just like your father before yeh▬" Valkyrie sighed. As Gobber held his head back, she counted the seconds on her fingers ... one ... two ... three▬Hiccup face-palmed when the blacksmith broke into tears yet again. "Oh! Hiccup! If only he was here to see this! He would be so happy▬!"

     As the two leaders of this island tried their very best to console their inconsolable friend, neither one noticed the set of small, clawed footprints that bounded through the snow next to the stage. In barely the blink of an eye, three small▬and very unruly▬tiny tooth dragons in scales of black, white▬and very much a mix of both, ducked in underneath the wooden floor. One after another, the three hatchlings climbed their way to the trap door, pushing their heads against it with all their might to peer out into the strange world with wide, intelligent eyes. One blue and two with an identical green. 

    Hunched together, the three little Night Lights glanced around, far too curious for their own good. Their ears perked at the sound of Gobber's wails and twitched their nostrils at the bonk! Bonk! Bonk! of Leiv and Luk's heads against wood. Until their eyes found a horrifying sight. They jumped and ducked back into the darkness to see a wide, unblinking stare of a creature much like themselves. They squealed and the trapdoor struck the blue-eyed hatchling on the head. She huffed, shaking it off and pushed the wood to lift yet again. She narrowed her eyes at the unmoving dragon, expecting it to attack. But the look-a-like to their species did not even heave a single breath. 

    "All right, all right▬I'm okay. I'm okay," her attention switched with the flicker of her ears. The young dragon tilted her head, watching a strange being with no scales at all, but instead with a coat of leather nod to its friend. 

    "It'll be fine!" muttered Hiccup. He nodded to himself. "It's going to be fine▬" he shrugged, turning to his wife who nodded as well, always supportive. "This is fine▬he'll be fine."

     Valkyrie huffed a smile. She took her husbands shoulders and gave him a gentle shake. There was a proud gleam in her eyes, "Everything is going to work out," she said to Hiccup. "The kids are gonna love this, okay? All you need to do, Honey, is take a deep breath▬" he did so with her, "▬play your role, and it will all go according to plan."

    Hiccup nodded. He huffed, too. "Yeah, yeah," he started to believe her. "You're right, Honey. Of course, you're right." 

    Her arms dropped and his own settled on his hips, nodding to the suit he had spent hours making just for tonight. 

    The strangled, gurgled cry made both of them jump in surprise. They glanced over, and their brows furrowed to see the moment the trap door snapped closed. "What?" Hiccup breathed. He shuffled over, crouching down to try and catch a glimpse of what had been underneath▬for a second, he swore he had heard the sound of a ... well, a baby dragon. The two Vikings glanced around, but before they could investigate further, Hott shouted from the opposite end of the stage: "Two minutes to curtain! Everyone get your butts ready!"

    Valkyrie gasped with excitement and planted her hands on her husband's back, pushing him towards the suit he had made. "Oh! Oh! Go, go, go, Honey! It's time! It's time!"

   Quite giddy, the young chieftess helped her husband drag the suit to the right part of side stage. They opened it up ready for him to get inside the moment he needed to head out. Bouncing on her toes, she sent a thumbs up to Ruff and Fishlegs on the other end who were in charge of curtain ropes. Hott was rushing around trying to get Tuffnut to stay in position while Snotlout had hidden himself in the stage, cranking the lever of a moving script for the actors to read. These days, he was small enough to fit in those cramped places. 

    Valkyrie watched the entirety of New Berk fill up the seats. Parents brought their children, and she smiled to see them on the edge of their toes, excited to watch the show. She bit her grin, checking on their own kids who had quieted down at Astrid's whisper the moment the music began. Lanterns were lit at the stage's edge. Children were giggling. Kåre gasped and shuffled further to the edge of his seat in the middle of Linnea and Leiv▬and even the twelve-year-old subtly glanced upwards from her stick sharpening, pursing her lips to hide her evident curiosity (and excitement).

    "Go, go, go, go!" Hott whispered to them all and just like that, their play burst into action. Fishlegs and Ruffnut pulled down their ropes. The wooden sun was lifted to the very roof of the stage. Light beamed down from shields reflecting through fire and Snotlout rolled his script right back to the very beginning, shooting his own thumbs-up to Eret who pushed the rest of the backdrops on stage with one, mighty grunt. 

    "Look!" gasped Valkyrie, pointing out in front of Hiccup's nose as the curtains were pulled back, and Gobber and Tuff were revealed to the audience. Children held their breaths, eyes wide as they took in everything they could, from the yellow wooden sun, to the painted dragon backdrops and nailed trees. To Gobber's hefty straw beard and Tuffnut's wobbly walk that made Hiccup throw his gaze up to the heavens, muttering incoherent grumblings under his breath. 

    His wife only took his arm, shaking it with her own thrill the moment she noticed Leiv point out Tuffnut and say, "That's what Dad used to look like!"

    Hiccup let out a quiet scoff, jutting in his chin to send a quick, indigent glance at his wife. "I did not look like that." She arched a disbelieving brow. "I▬I never looked like that! I didn't walk like that, what▬what is he▬?"

    Valkyrie just gently shushed him, linking her arms around his own and watching the show play out with a bright beam on her face. The audience applauded the sight of their hard work. 

    Once they died down, did the pageant show finally begin. 

    "Hiccup!" announced Gobber in a low, gruff voice. He turned to Tuffnut beside him who hunched over, facing him with a very dopey look. "Today is the day everything changes▬!" he flung out his arm in front of his cast mate's face. Tuffnut just poked his head around it with the most ridiculous smile he could manage.

    "He's doing that on purpose," Hiccup whispered to Valkyrie meanwhile. She kept trying to sweetly shush him with gentle taps on his arm. "He's just doing that to make fun of me..."

    "I▬" continued Gobber dramatically, gesturing wide out towards the audience, "▬have tamed a dragon!"

     The crowed 'oooh'ed in response. Some of the other children shared glances with each other, grinning happily. Kåre kept pointing to Tuffnut and calling out, "It's Dad!" he turned to Astrid, shuffling excitedly in his seat. "Dad! That's Dad!"

    Linnea rolled her eyes, "That's not Dad, Kåre," she said grumpy, checking how sharp her stick was in the lamp light. "It's Uncle Tuffnut dressed as Dad."

   She watched, unimpressed as there was a long pause, for Tuffnut couldn't remember any of his lines and had to crouch down to read them off Snotlout's rolling paper. "Uh..." he let out. Hott slumped side stage, annoyed. Tuffnut squinted. "Oh! Yeah▬I am so tiny and afraid."

    The crowd laughed. Hiccup blanched. "W▬what▬?!" he spun back to Valkyrie who quickly hid the amused smile she had on her face. Her husband gestured wildly to the stage, "W▬what is that▬what is that?! That never happened!"

    Valkyrie waved her hand at him, "So Gobber took some liberties," she said, trying her very best to mediate the situation. 

    Hiccup flung his hands up, "I don't know▬!" they soared off to the side and she shuffled back, staring cross-eyed at his fingers that waved past her nose. "There were dragons everywhere, Honey." He pointed to the audience through the curtains▬she reached forward to try and lower his arms. "A▬and people doubting me!" he spun to her and she ducked as he gestured an overhead pointer finger. "Especially▬" it jabbed at his chest, "▬my own father!"

    "Honey▬" she tried, dodging his wayward gestures to try and get a hold of him. "Honey, Honey▬babe▬"

    "And then I stood my ground▬" He flung up his palm into her face. She reared back, startled, "▬and I touched one!" he told her, pointing at his hand as if to prove it to her. "I touched a dragon, Valkyrie!"

    "I know, Honey," she took his hand and pushed it down. "I know▬I was there."

    He just kept pointing at his palm as she lowered it, "That's hard-core!"

   Valkyrie finally managed to guide him towards the metal suit. Hiccup climbed up into his Toothless costume and jumped inside. He stared at her, moody, over the iron edge. "He's got the spirit of the story," she said as she did. She brushed some hair out of his eyes while he scowled lightly at her. "And that's what this pageant is really about, isn't it?"

    Hiccup pursed his lips. He simmered down for a moment. "I▬uh▬yeah," he admitted, "I guess so ..."

   "Hiccup▬!" bellowed Gobber and their heads turned in sync back to the performance. "You are weak," he gestured to Tuffnut who just smirked, "and fear dragons." The crowd may have laughed, and Hiccup may have made a face, but the eyes of a certain young girl lifted, quite surprised. She stared at the performance for a minute, thinking to herself: wait, my dad was scared of dragons? Just like me? "I am strong and understand them!"

    As it got closer and closer to his cue, Hiccup began to stress. He shook his head, though Valkyrie didn't notice. She nodded at Hott who gestured to her across the stage and replied with a thumbs-up. "H▬Honey," rambled Hiccup as she did, "I▬I don't know if I want to go through with this▬"

    "You're on!" she told him and flung the metal head over him. It closed with a crank!

    "Hey!" Hiccup's muffled voice echoed from inside. Valkyrie grinned and sent another thumbs up to Ruff and Fishlegs by the ropes. "Hey, I▬No. Uh▬Val▬" Hiccup's voice slowly drifted upwards with the suit. "I▬what▬Val..." he called down to her. "Val▬!"

    "You're doing great Honey!" she whisper-shouted up to him. "I love you!"

     She shuffled as close as she possibly could to the edge, watching with bated breath as her husband was dragged over the top of the stage. The creaks and squeaks were painful to listen to, but the way Kåre's face lit up the moment he saw his father in that costume, none of that mattered. Her heart positively swelled. The youngest shuffled forward, his gaze wide and his attention fixed. He and Leiv gasped when the light changed to a misty green. Linnea glanced up out of the corner of her eye. 

     "A dragon!" whispered Luk from Linnea's side. 

     "It's not real," she grumbled and went back to scraping away the bark off her stick. 

    "There he is!" announced Gobber, holding up his wooden hand to the hovering dragon. "The Night Fury."

     "It's Toothless!" cheered softly some of the children. "I love Toothless!"

     Kåre stared upwards as the metal dragon got closer and closer. "Whoa..." he let out, absolutely amazed. 

     Inside the suit, Hiccup smiled. He reached up and pushed down a switch to make Toothless's ears flap up and down▬Kåre giggled and pointed upwards. "Look! Look!"

     Leiv grinned brightly, giggling with his brother and nudging Astrid to get her attention. "His ears are moving! Look at his ears move, Auntie Astrid▬!"

     However, Linnea just spun her dagger in her fingers, rolling her eyes at her father▬he was so embarrassing. "Nope," grumbled the twelve-year-old. 

     Immediately, her younger brothers stopped their impressed mutterings. Seeing that their elder sister was not impressed, they realised that they, too, should not be either. Because Linnea was older, and she was cool▬and they had to be cool like her (obviously).

    Kåre pursed his lips and copied what she was doing, crossing his arms and muttering a, "Ew." Leiv slumped downwards and scoffed. He tried very hard not to grin with a breath of starstruck when the metal Toothless even sprouted wings! Astrid watched them, the smile falling off her face. "Look," she tried to coax the three siblings. "It's Toothless! That was your dad's dragon, Nea!" she reached out and nudged Linnea's shoulder. At the glare the eldest gave her, Astrid hunched up and slowly pulled her hand away. "O▬okay," she let out, startled. 

     It was then, that everything started to go drastically, devastatingly▬absolutely, painstakingly, terribly, horribly▬wrong.

    For as he watched Hiccup recreate Toothless above, Gobber's bottom lip started to tremble. He turned to Tuffnut, his eyes already beginning to water, "This pageant is bringing up the feelings!" he whimpered. "Stoick▬" he sniffled, "▬he would have loved this!" Slowly, Tuffnut's eyes began to widen, incredulous. Gobber flew his hand up to his helmet, growing hysterical. "The only thing vaster than his presence▬" he heaved, "▬was his capacity for mirth▬!" Gobber wailed with misery. He blew his nose into the nearby curtain. As he tugged away, his beard fell from its fastenings. The straw landed in the bracket of fire right beside it▬and just like that, it burst into flames. 

    Embers bounced from the straw and down onto the rope▬as Gobber weeped into Tuffnut's shoulder, the flames continued all the way along, following the winding pathway that led all the way to Mr. and Mrs. Ingerman, who▬unable to contain themselves▬had completely forgotten about the pageant at hand. They dropped their grip of the rope and shared a kiss in the shadows. 

     The rope went flying. It rattled through the metal hooks, lifting the flames upwards to the next set of curtains▬the hooks snapped and poor Eret was clobbered to unconsciousness as his sun toppled right down onto his head. Asrifth jumped, startled as he stared down at his husband. His feet knocked the nearby prop shield. It went rolling▬racing down the slight slope of the wood, past Valkyrie who watched it run by her feet. She frowned, wondering what on earth was happening. She sniffed at the strange scent in the air ... was that smoke?

     It made a full circle▬spinning through the growing flames and slamming to a stop against the legs of the set ladder. The fire carried itself up, climbing as if it had hands and feet of its own. All the way to the very top where it flickered above the support beams. It caught the eye of Linnea who glanced up▬she gasped in fright. 

    No one else seemed to have noticed. They all continued on with the show. But Valkyrie continued to frown, turning on her feet as the horrid smell caught her nose yet again. "What is that...? It's almost like ..." Finally, her eyes settled on the glowing, flickering flames. Her face turned gaunt. She stared, frozen on the spot. "The stage is on fire," she whispered to herself, shocked for a moment. Then, the severity of the situation hit her. Her hands flew to her braids in complete horror. "The stage▬" she cried out, "▬IS ON FIRE!"

    She ran into action. Snotlout, who was rolling the script onwards with a bored puff of air, noticed her dash past. Then, he noticed the growing flames in the corner of the side-stage. He gasped, "Oh, no▬" he let out. "Oh, no. Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no▬" he scrambled out of his hiding spot, leaving Tuffnut dry mid-sentence, dashing downstage with a startled scream. 

    "Uh...?" Tuffnut frowned, bewildered. He waited for the script to move▬but without Snotlout, he was utterly clueless as to what came next. "Uh ... Hiccup!" He tried the sentence again. "You can be a giant ..." he narrowed his eyes, trying to think of what came next, "... uh ... butt face?"

    As soon as Hott noticed what happened, he dropped everything he was holding. He watched the fire overtake the ladder and lift up onto the support beams above him. He threw his hands up in frustration, "OH, FOR THOR'S SAKE WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN TO US▬?!"

    While they desperately tried to keep the show going, those who worked backstage were desperately trying to keep the fire detained. They chased the flames that danced just inches far from their boots. Ruffnut tried to whack it down with another shield. Fishlegs waved his hands, thinking that the wind would blow it away▬he squealed when the flames only just sparked higher. Snotlout found Valkyrie's stash of Yaknog for the end of the show and she screamed, furious with him as he threw it all onto the wood. It doused the fire, except when Hott rushed past with a bucket of water to get the next hotspot, he slipped a cabbage leaf and landed, backwards into the sludge. His water fell all over him, drenching him from head to toe. His bucket went flying towards the backdrop and they all stared, mouth-agape as all of their hard work fell forward with a THUD! Snotlout and Fishlegs ran into each other in their frenzy to stop it, but it was too late, the fire spread all the way across and erupted the entire backdrop ... Valkyrie watched, defeated as their magnificent artwork was destroyed. 

    "I hate your Yaknog!" meanwhile shouted Hott. 

    The crowd gasped. They stood on their feet in horror as they saw the stage burst alight. Astrid slumped, pinching the bridge of her nose. To herself, she muttered, "Every Snoggletog, I swear to the gods..."

    "Hiccup!" said Tuffnut flatly. "You can be a giant butt face▬!"

    Gobber yelped and threw up his hands. He ran to the nearest trial of flames and stamped it down with his foot. "Uh▬" he waved his wooden hand out to the audience that had started to grow restless. "Don't panic!" he shouted. "This▬this is▬it's all just a part of the show! Er▬it's a thing we call: Special Effects!"

    "THE STAGE IS ON FIRE!" Valkyrie's scream echoed somewhere from stage left. 

    "SPECIAL EFFECTS!"

    "WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!" followed Snotlout's terrified cry. 

    "AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH▬" yelled Hiccup as he fell from the beam above, landing with a crash! in his costume onto the stage. Around them, the entire pageant stage collapsed into a cloud of smoke and ashen splinters. The crowd shouted and screamed with alarm. Some ran for their very lives back to their homes, pleading prayers to the gods. 

    In the destruction and chaos, Hiccup managed to sit up. One of Toothless's eyes sprung out and hang down by a long, springy cord.

    Kåre screamed with terror. 

    Hiccup struggled to get onto his feet. He desperately tried to get control▬his fingers latched and grasped any lever he could find. One snapped right off its hinge and he stared at it, annoyed. He spun around, he stumbled on his own feet▬the suit clanged and thudded; his own voice echoed back and forth through his ears, along with the screams and the shouts. He tried to get his bearings, but he could barely see through the thin visor he made▬there was nothing but smoke and flames. "Uh▬uh! Hey! Uh▬guys?!" he shouted desperately for his friends, wherever they were. "Guys▬a little help here?!"

    He stumbled forward. The screams doubled as he staggered into the view of the audience. The sight was a horrendous nightmare. Kids cried, mothers gasped, people ran. Kåre and Leiv screamed and hid behind their sister who held her dagger out with both hands, her grip trembling as she protected them against the monster that had become her father's costume. 

    "DO SOMETHING!" cried Hott from the front of the stage, his hair and face covered in cabbage and fermented goats milk. 

    Hiccup scrambled around his controls, "I▬I▬" his voice echoed from inside the metal. "I▬I got it!" he shouted back to Hott. "Maybe this one▬!" he tugged down a rope above his head. 

    Hott ducked with a high-pitched scream as bright blue flames burst out of the suit's mouth. It cascaded above them in a light show of heat. More screams ensued. Hott tugged at his cheeks, "WHY IN THOR WOULD YOU GIVE IT THAT FUNCTIONALITY?!" he bellowed at his brother-in-law. "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU▬AHHHHHHHH▬?!" even he ran for his life as another column jetted out, missing his hair by a mere breath. 

     Astrid gasped and rushed all the kids to hide behind their seats, "HICCUP, YOU IDIOT!" 

    "I WANTED IT TO BE REALISTIC!" The Chief's strangled response grew fainter and fainter as he stumbled backwards ... further and further until he dangled▬dangerously▬at the very edge. He tipped▬

    Hiccup yelled in horror as he fell, limbs flailing, off the side of the cliff. 

    He turned back and forth▬he bashed into the sides of his metal costume. Hiccup cried out for help as he rolled over and over, feeling as if he was a pebble turning in a rushing current▬back and forth, back and forth, back and forth▬

    (Great, he managed to think sarcastically all the same. How did Chief Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third die? Oh, it was falling off the side of a cliff at a Snoggletog Pageant in a dragon costume!)    

     He cursed the gods and he cursed whoever came up with this stupid idea of a Snoggletog pageant (oh wait, that was him) when all of the sudden, he stopped falling.

    Hiccup's scream got caught, strangled in the back of his throat as his entire body jolted inside the suit. He banged his head on the helm. "Ow!" He frowned, heaving as he dangled there, upside down in mid-air, very confused. 

    "Uh...?" he tried to see, but it was useless. His stomach jolted as he started to rise back up. "Gobber?" he called out, thinking that perhaps he must have not fallen that far. "Is that you? Val? Uh▬Valkyrie? Honey?" 

    Thud! He felt his feet land back onto solid earth. He spun, blinking and dazed▬his stomach churned and his head was a mess; everything around him was a dizzy, spinning blur. He almost fell, but something kept him up. "Oh▬" he let out, surprised. He blinked away his daze and tried to see▬but all there was was just black and smoke. "Uh ... Gobber? Gobber, is that you?!" As he finally could steady himself, Hiccup sighed in relief. He slumped inside the costume. "Oh▬!" he let out. "Thank you for helping out there▬" Hiccup coughed as he suddenly got a strange, putrid stench whiff up his nose. "Urgh!" he clutched his nose, gagging. "What did you have, raw trout for lunch?" Something pushed into him. "Wah▬! Hey! Hang on. Let me just shift my weight so I can▬"

    Hiccup yelped as he fell face-flat onto the wood of the stage. 

    "Uh ... Gobber?" he heard something walk around him▬he felt the shadow hover; and these strange sounds? He must have lost his mind in the fall, because since when was Gobber warbling?

     In fact, Gobber was not warbling at all. He was not all anywhere near Hiccup. The old blacksmith hunched by the edge of the stage, grumbling to himself, "How did you lose your last two limbs, Gobber? Oh, it was a pageant..."

    "Gobber?" 

    He stopped. At the sound of Hiccup's voice, he turned, rather confused. What was once a beautiful set, was now nothing more than a suffocating mist of ash and smoke. But as Gobber squinted to try and see through it, something shifted in its midst. A round, black head with quivering flaps for ears▬he did not see the struggling figure on the ground in a metal suit and broken hinges ... Gobber's eyes widened at what stood over it, "Hiccup?" he called, unsure. 

    The shouts and screams had started to fade. Everyone stared, amazed at the mystical sight of the figure in the smoke as it extended out vast wings in the dim lantern light. Gasps echoed. Children peered out from behind their parents' legs. Linnea lowered her knife, her eyes widening as she watched her father emerge from the smoke in his dragon costume ... and yet ... something about it seemed different▬she could swear it hadn't been that large before ...? She felt her brothers peer out from underneath her arms. 

    And for the first time the entire show, Linnea could not tear her eyes away. She was filled with this breathless swell of awe, seeing the light return onto Gobber and her father▬and even amongst such destruction: their set pieces burnt away, their backdrops a melting horror of ash and paint, the air filled with the burning scent of smoke ... the scene she watched before her, had turned into something so magical it filled her heart with a feeling so light, Linnea Haddock felt as if she had grown wings.

    Gobber took his chance. He launched back into the script, "Greetings, magnificent creature!" he said in his gruff voice of Linnea's grandfather. "Will you allow Stoick to tame you with his gentle ..." he pushed his wooden hand upwards so his palm faced the snout of her father's costume, "... touch."

     Linnea's shoulders rose with her hitched breath as Gobber extended out his hand to Toothless in the smoke. He closed his eyes, and she became enamoured. Her brothers pushed themselves out further, and she held them gently at her side, all three siblings watching with a bright gleam in their green gazes. 

    And then the snout of her father's costume touched the palm of Gobber's wooden hand. Linnea heard the crowd around her coo and 'aww', but she felt something else. This little smile breathed onto her lips as she started to wonder ... if that was how the story happened; if her father befriended Toothless the Night Fury with such a sweet, gentle and trusting touch ... there was nothing scary, nothing horrific. Even though that dragon had teeth, and blue fire and one eye falling out ... they had placed their undying trust in each other ... and it was beautiful. 

     "Let man and dragon be forever bonded," smile Gobber as he finished, "in trust ... and in love."

     Vikings around Linnea cheered. Children leapt up and cried out Toothless's name. At either side of her, her brothers burst into an ecstatic applause. She crossed her arms. She cleared her throat. She tried her very best not to show that she had thought anything good about any of this ... but then she looked back out to where her father stood on that stage, and Linnea swung a little on her feet; she beamed and she hugged her stomach▬and there was no embarrassment. Hiccup's daughter gazed up at him with a stare she had not held in a long time: the beam of staring up at her hero. 

    "Whoa!" Leiv gasped, chuckling. He climbed up onto the seat, "That was amazing!" he told his siblings. "I'm so excited I could fly▬!" he leapt right off the bench, holding his arms out as if he had wings. He fell face-first into the dirt, laughing. Kåre followed suit, giggling as he landed on his back.

     Linnea rocked on the soles of her feet. "It's just a show," she said to her little brothers. "You do know that is just Dad in a suit, right?"

     Kåre glanced up. He grinned, "Way to go, Dad!" he called out before falling heavily back onto his brother. 

    Linnea paid them no mind. She continued to watch her father as he stepped off the stage. She grinned and broke out into a run, wanting to see him. She skidded, excited, in the snow▬Linnea had a youthful skip in her step as she swung around a nearby tree and sprinted to the side-stage steps. "Dad!" she called out. "Hey, Dad?"

    She stopped at the foot of the stairs, frowning through the smoke of the doused fire. She wafted it away from her face. "Dad?" she called out, now uncertain when she didn't hear his reply. 

     Linnea held her hand over her eyes, squinting until she caught sight of the figure of her father's suit again. She grinned, "Dad▬!" her words turned into a panicked gasp as the figure finally emerged. She stumbled for her dagger, her grip shaking so much that the blade dropped to her feet. She cried out, desperately trying to catch it▬Linnea glanced up and she froze, terrified as the eyes of a mighty beast stared back at her. Her breath became stuck in the back of her throat. Her heart pounded. Linnea breathed heavily as she watched the slender creature with scales as black as the night, eyes as piercing as a lightning storm▬it crouched low before her, eyeing her out of the corner of its curious gaze. She couldn't believe the sight. She noticed the familiar shape of the dragon's snout, its round ears and the fins that trailed all the way down its back to a tail that if she just glimpsed over it, she wouldn't have noticed the way the left fin was clasped around the base ... notice the intricate work that allowed this creature to fly on its own.

    Linnea gaped. Her stare widened. She found herself unable to move an inch, struck with wonder and awe. "Toothless..." she whispered the dragon's name, and she watched its head perk up, ears quivering at the sound. 

    The Night Fury titled his head at her. There was something about this girl that struck him familiar. The way she stared at him, wide-eyed and hunched ... was the same way a small, young boy had once stared at him a long time ago, too. 

    Toothless dipped his head forward and sniffed her. Linnea watch the flaps around his head lift up. The darks of his eyes grew wide. Her heart swelled with amazement as the dragon's gums lifted; and there were no teeth at all. She chuckled, unable to believe it, "Toothless," she said again, understanding. 

    The dragon glanced back at where the muffled voice of her father called out somewhere in the smoke. "Uh▬a little help here? Gobber? Valkyrie...?" Toothless turned to face her again, and she couldn't describe the look on his face as anything other than a delighted, wondrous smile. For he had found her again. After years and years, Toothless had finally found little Nea once again. 

    He shuffled happily on his feet. He dipped his head, tail thudding against the wood and Linnea laughed▬she gazed back at her father's dragon, and she felt no fear; none at all. All she saw, was a breath of herself in those inquisitive eyes. He purred at her, gentle, sweet and tender, and Linnea had this sudden urge to reach out and touch her fingers against his scales ... to do the exact same thing her father had done, so many years ago. 

    But instead, Linnea Haddock held up her hand, and she shyly waved to the dragon with a sweet, little smile on her face. 

    Toothless raised his head. He huffed at her, and the warm touch tingled her skin, making her giggle. Linnea watched him send her a final, gummy grin before he stretched his mighty wings and took off into the evening sky. She turned, staring after him even once he was gone, and the smile did not leave her face. 

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    ON THE WALK HOME, Linnea was positively beaming. She was completely enchanted, laughing and dancing around her parents with gushing delights on dragons and how wonderful they were. Under the glow of the Snoggletog lights, little Nea was brighter than them all. 

    Valkyrie watched her with a pleasant smile, leaning into Hiccup's arm as she walked with him. Linnea wasn't the only one. Leiv dashed past them with his arms outstretched, "Look at me, Mum!" he would shout. "I'm a dragon▬I can fly just like Toothless▬!" to which he'd leap forward and plant his face into the snow. Then, he'd rush back onto his feet, wipe the snow off his cheeks and exclaim: "Oh! And I can dive like Zephyr, too, Mum▬watch me dive like Zephyr, I will▬!" before he'd jump right back into the white wonderland.

    Kåre was holding onto his helmet Valkyrie bought him. It sat crooked on his head▬far too big for him. And she breathed another warm smile, seeing so much of Hiccup in him it was something more than heartwarming. "I want a dragon just like you, Dad!" said the youngster, his words a mix of miss-pronunciations and mumbles. "I'm gonna have a dragon just like you!" He squealed in delight when Linnea picked him up and spun her youngest brother around, the happiest they've seen her all week. 

    "I love dragons!" she told her father as she set Kåre down. She rushed up to Hiccup and tugged at his arm. "And I love Toothless! Oh, Dad▬he's so beautiful▬!" she gushed, letting go to skip ahead. She spun to walk backwards, giddy. "I loved the surprise!" Linnea said. "Bringing Toothless here was the best Snoggletog present ever, Dad!"

    Hiccup watched her go with a frown. He glanced at Valkyrie who watched him with an expectant look. He only just shook his head, "I have literally no idea what she is talking about." His wife chuckled. "This whole thing was not what I expected..."

    They slowed to a stop nearby the slope that led up to the house. Valkyrie hugged her husband's arm, resting her head against his shoulder as she watched the village children climb up and hang Snoggletog reefs from Stoick's arms. No longer were they throwing fruit and rocks up at the once chieftains stone nose. Now, they celebrated him with every breath of admiration they all once did. 

    "Whoosh!" Leiv spun in a circle around his siblings. "I can run as fast as a dragon!"

    "No, you can't!" Linnea told her brother in a matter-of-fact tone. "Toothless is a Night Fury, and he is the fastest creature in the world. I know that because I know him."

     "You don't know him," Leiv challenged her, hands on his hips. "You're lying!"

    "Oh, yeah?" she leaned forward to meet him in the eye. "I don't see Toothless showing up to say hello to you."

    "It was just Dad in a suit, you dummie!"

    "When I grow up," Kåre jumped up onto a log, holding out his arms with his helmet falling down to his eyebrows. "I'm gonna be just like Dad!"

    "Yeah?" his brother jumped up onto the log with him. "Well, I'm gonna be Stoick the Vast! I have more muscle than you have yeh wee stick. You're scared of dragons, you are."

    Kåre gaped, upset. "I am not!"

   "No, I'm the eldest," argued Linnea, joining them. "And I saw Toothless, so I'm the most like Dad."

   "No!" Kåre erupted into angry frustration. He stamped his foot. "I want to be Dad!"

    Valkyrie chuckled lightly, her heart feeling like a tender hearth. She glanced up at her husband with a loving smile, "You're their hero," she said to him softly. "Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third."

    Her husband met her gaze, and after all these years, the love he held in his eyes had not wavered one bit. Instead, it has grown ... and it will always continue to grow. "You were right," he said to Valkyrie. "It was exactly what everyone needed. For the kids, and for the memory of my father."

     She tilted her head. Even now, a sweet blush touched Valkyrie the Vicious's cheeks. She reached up to press a chaste, but loving kiss on Hiccup's lips. "I didn't do anything," she said. She nodded to their kids. "This is your legacy that they're honouring."

    Hiccup smiled, "Our legacy," he corrected. She beamed. 

    "Well▬!" they turned around at Gobber's interruption. Valkyrie arched a brow, amused as he cleared his throat, knowingly shuffling his feet in the snow. He nodded up the pathway to their home in a not-so-subtle way. "Guess this is where the road ends!" he sighed dramatically. "S'pose I'll be heading home. Alone..." he slowly turned on his wooden peg. "Oh, the best Snoggletogs are spent in solitary, cavernous silence."

    Valkyrie and Hiccup shared a breathy chuckle. They rolled their eyes with warm hearts. "Gobber▬" they began at the same time.

    "▬If you're free tonight..." went on Hiccup.

    Gobber spun back with a cheery smile, "I'd love to!" he replied, gleeful. Valkyrie laughed. 

    They continued their way up the slope together. A strange and individual family, but weren't they all in their own way? But what mattered most on Snoggletog Eve, was the act of spending that time together. And while their large family was now spread out across the village of New Berk▬they were up here, Ruff and Fishlegs were down by the town centre, Asrifth and Eret were off helping those still sniffling from Black Plague Friday, Snotlout was jeering at the children, Tuffnut was still making fun of Hiccup in the streets and Hott was freaking out with a baby suddenly now on the way, ready to come to this life Snoggletog morning ... they were still together; and they always will be together. After all that they have gone through, family was the only thing they ever could be. 

    When they reached the deck of their home, Linnea quickly gasped and flung out a hand to stop them all. "Wait!" she cried. Then she snatched her younger brother's helmet off his head. He whined but she didn't care, throwing it out onto the wood. Valkyrie jumped when out of nowhere, a mace dropped and flattened it to the deck. 

    Gobber chuckled, delighted. "Oh!" he nudged Linnea. "That's clever."

   Linnea kept a hand on Leiv's arm to keep him still. "And..."

   From the beams above, two sharp, pointed arrows struck the helmet on either side. The horns tipped away▬they had been sliced right off. 

   Linnea shrugged, smug at her work, "Now, you're good."

   The kids leapt up onto the deck and rushed into the home. Hiccup sighed, shaking his head with a smile, "So proud..." he murmured. Valkyrie elbowed him and he chuckled at her, rolling his eyes. They followed their way up the stairs as Linnea pushed open the doors, and they heard her gasp loudly at what lied inside.

    Valkyrie gasped herself, her eyes widening in wonder at the gorgeous green light that filled the home. The kids murmured in excitement: "Whoa!" they cried. "Look at that▬!" "▬That is so cool▬!" they ran forward and her jaw slacked to see their plate of trout gone▬cleaned up with not a bite left to have. They stepped inside and her heart began to hammer, it rose high in her chest to find that the flower crowns she had set out no where in sight, either. 

     But instead in their place, sat a beautiful, green light▬it pulsed and it glimmered; and she would recognise it anywhere. Valkyrie shook her head, unable to think as she stared at a plant she knew only to exist in a place secret to the rest of the world ... hidden at the edge of the earth. 

    "It's beautiful!" whispered Linnea, a bright smile on her face.

    "Hiccup," Valkyrie whispered as they walked up to it, amazed. "Did▬did you do this?"

    He shook his head, shocked. "No."

    "Mum! Dad!" Leiv pointed upwards. "The bowl is empty!"

    Hiccup's eyes widened. His breath hitched. A childish light sparked inside of him and he spun on his feet, sprinting straight back out of the door. Valkyrie followed him, her heart racing with the same youthful hope. She skidded out on the wood, reaching his side with a lump in her throat. She held her breath, staring upwards to the night sky▬

     And for once, there was something there to dash past the moonlight. 

     "O▬oh, my gods!" Valkyrie cried out, her hands flying to her lips to hide her broken sob. "It's▬it's Zephyr!"

     And it was. She pushed herself to the edge, leaning over the fenceposts with her heart leaping forth from her chest. She cried tears of joy, laughing as she heard his triumphant cry into the night▬a dazzling spectacle of blue, white and sunburst yellow. Her dragon dived down through the clouds, and those that followed him was a sight to behold. A dazzling, moonlit dragon with scales that shined like the stars. Her three hatchlings that hovered and pushed into each other▬and their father; a Night Fury as black as the night around them. Hew flew in sync with his once best friend, the two dragons spinning upwards with something strange on the base of their heads. Valkyrie chocked another sob the moment she realised they were her flower crowns. 

    "Toothless!" called out Hiccup, filled with a wonderful breath of pure, wonderful ecstasy as he watched his best friend disappear back up into the clouds. Valkyrie hugged him, resting her head against his chest. Both of them smiled, wishing their old friends good luck once more with tearful eyes. Yes, family was always there to visit on Snoggletog Eve ... no matter where on this earth they may be. 

    Valkyrie felt something hit her leg. She glanced down and chuckled, wrapping a tight arm around Leiv as he hugged her hip. Kåre pushed himself between the two of them, giggling as he caught sight of the dragons make their way back towards the Hidden World. Hiccup tugged Linnea into a gentle hug to his side▬and he was happy. He was very happy. Because he knew that no matter what, their loved ones were always nearby when they held them in their hearts. 

    Gobber rushed in behind the lot of them and squeezed them all into a tight hug. Down the slope and back towards the village, there was a frantic shout, "OH MY GODS, WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT'S TWINS?!" and somewhere, Valkyrie believed Hott Hofferson-Frode may have fainted amongst all the Snoggletog cheer. 

     And perhaps this was their ending▬a tale that has lasted more than sixteen years. And it was sad, but it was also something wonderfully happy. Because here, on this island of New Berk where it was more than freezing cold and definitely a place that turned their bones into brittle ice ... but it was the home they had built together; as a family. It was their legacy of their past, the joy of their present, and the beautiful hope of their future, and wherever it may take them. 

    Valkyrie smiled, "Maybe it's our turn to visit them?" she suggested to Hiccup. He held her closer. 

    It was their happy ending. 

THE END     

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    a/n: it's been friken 10 years and they haven't fukin changed a bit they're all still fukin chaotic idiots and I love them so much. 

    we've reached the end of this book. I-i cried again. istg I literally cried again. as soon as valkyrie saw zephyr that was it. that was it I lost it. 

    I know I said a lot at the end of httyd iii but I'll say it again. thank you all so much for deciding to take this journey with valkyrie, and me. you are all the best readers I could have ever asked for. you love this story, and you love these characters as much as I do, and that's crazy special. thank you <3

    see you in valkyrie's interlude book. it's called zephyr and it's already published on my profile. if you haven't seen it yet, go and check it out. there's still more to come <333