════ ⋆★⋆ ════

chapter twenty-five
the light fury

════ ⋆★⋆ ════

     VALKYRIE HAD heard tales of vast migration; when a large group of animals crossed the skies, the lands, or the vast, icy landscapes during winter to search for a warmer climate. They were always in search of food, habitat━whether it be new, or an annual movement that followed the seasons. She never imagined she be apart of one: an entire migration of Vikings and dragons across the endless seas in search of a world they didn't even know existed. When will they reach the end of the world? It always seemed so far away. 

      Dragons carried tied crates, dangled from rope at their claws. Larger dragons hefted entire longships full of sheep, yaks and building supplies. Zephyr was testing his own weight, carrying all of Valkyrie's and Linnea's things she could scavenge from their burnt home back on Berk. Books, weaved baskets, drawings, and thankfully, many of the things Hiccup made━toys, benches, bracelets, blankets anything for Linnea that he could: wooden recreations of Toothless and Zephyr that had wheels on them to make it seem like they could move across the floor. They were charred, some had parts burnt off, but Valkyrie was grateful for what they could save. She had to leave her home and her history behind, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to take whatever she could find with her. 

     Thousands of ships, thousands of crates and piles of wood flying through the sky with dragons and Vikings alike━Valkyrie gently veered Zephyr to the left, letting him extend out his wings away from the gathering crowd in the centre. She rose them up and over, feeling some part of her heart lift when she saw Linnea extend her arms up and out of the cloth Val used to strap her to her chest to try and feel the clouds. 

      Valkyrie chuckled and held up a hand, too, joining her daughter in reaching her fingers out to the heavens, just like she had when she was fifteen. When she felt misery waiting, Linnea was there to remind her that there was happiness in this world━there was hope, in her. 

      The moment wavered when Fishlegs came barrelling past. "Sorry!" he cried, darting though and in between lanes of dragons, making riders gasp and Vikings cry out in annoyance, shaking their fists at his dangerous flying. "Sorry, make way! Coming through! Just━need to get my━" he was having trouble with little Fishmeat, who had crawled out of his pouch and clinging onto Fishlegs's shoulders. Desperate to keep him from falling and feed him at the same time, Fishlegs was barely having any idea where he was leading Meatlug, and the poor dragon was doing her best to keep them from running straight into floating longships. 

     Valkyrie gasped and jetted them to the side, scowling after Fishlegs. 

     "Fishmeat! Fishmeat, look!" he cried as the baby Gronckle leapt up and onto his head. "Eat your rocks! Eat your rocks!" He managed to distract the hatchling with some granite, able to grab him and place him back into the pouch Fishlegs had Hiccup construct at the front of his dragon armour.

     Across the lane, Snotlout scoffed, "Gods! People who fly with babies are the worst!"

     Valkyrie passed him, sending her friend an incredulous scowl. Linnea waved at Snotlout, grinning. He hunched up, eyeing Val's glower hesitantly and apologetically. "I━I mean!" he tried to fix his mistake rather quickly. "Babies! I━I love babies! And the people who fly with babies! Babies can fly anywhere, I say! Hear that, Odin?" He called to Valhalla. "Let the babies fly!" In a quieter voice, he added to Valkyrie, "Please don't hit me..."

     "Ugh," she rolled her eyes and pushed onwards. 

     She came to an easy pace beside Valka, sitting back to stare onwards at the endless horizon, hoping that there would be something that would show itself. They've never gone this far West before; it was uncharted territory. 

      "Come on, Spikey!" meanwhile, Hott was having some trouble encouraging his Nadder to keep carrying a pile of wooden planks for building. She, instead, wanted to settle down to preen her wings that━in her eyes━had gotten quite dirty in their flight. "Just keep━we'll set down soon!" He tugged her upwards and away from a nearby sea stack. His dragon ruffled her wings and sparked in defiance. "No. Don't give me that. This way━this way━ugh! You big, spoilt baby!"

      Astrid laughed at him from below, rising up through the layers of dragons to sneak a teasing comment towards Valkyrie's younger brother, "What was it you used to always say? I'm the Master Dragon Rider━"

      "Did I━" Hott tugged Spikemoth back into the centre of the migration, "━ask you? No, didn't think so."

       But she continued, not caring, "━Hey, Tuff, Ruff! Remember what Hott used to say back on Dragon's Edge?"

      "This is really not necessary━"

      Ruffnut cackled, as she always did whenever someone was under the waters of merciless teasing. She hit her brothers shoulder while he looked up at the heavens, stroking his 'beard' thoughtfully. "Ahah!" He then exclaimed, pointing up a finger. "I do remember precisely what the young Frode used to say!" He cleared his throat and put on his best dramatic impression: "Why, I am the━"

     "━Master Dragon Rider!" continued the rest of the nearby Dragon Rides, laughing at Hott who sunk lower in his saddle, desperately trying to hide his burning cheeks of embarrassment. "Come at me, all you horrendous foes! I shall destroy each and every one of you with my dragon's fiery fury!"

       Astrid laughed the most at Hott's stature on his saddle, lying backwards and glowering at her sideways. But the glower soon turned into a soft smile when she wasn't looking, just gazing at the way her hair gently drifted behind her in the wind, and her cheeks flushed in her laughter. 

    At the very front of the mass of flying dragons and Vikings, Hiccup twisted the nob of his spy glass, trying to see something past the horizon of blue. Toothless was perhaps the only real excited one out of all of them, his eyes wide and inquisitive as he took in everything around him. 

     Beside him, Gobber pulled Grump up into a hover, "I feel like I'm always asking you this question, but━whoa!" he dropped down as Grump slowly drifted back to sleep. "No! No! Wake up, Grump━wake up!"

      His dragon was startled awake, and Gobber returned, breathless and relieved. Hiccup just kept watching the horizon━he was used to Grump almost dropping him and Gobber out of the sky, constantly. 

     "Is there an actual plan?" continued to Blacksmith as if nothing had happened. "Or ...?"

      "Just keep flying until we reach the end of the world!" answered Hiccup.

     "Ah!" grumbled Gobber sarcastically. "Seems sensible..."

     "Ugh!" let out Snotlout suddenly behind Valkyrie after a good thirty minutes of flying. She glanced back, arching an unimpressed brow. Linnea's gaze followed her, leaning against the fabric wrapped around her as much as Val would let her to see. Snotlout gestured out to the sea in front of them. "It just keeps going!"

    "That's because the world is actually round," said Tuffnut, lounging back in his saddle. 

     "Oh, my god━" each and every Dragon Rider rolled their eyes. Some other Vikings that were hearing the conversation muttered incredulous scoffs under their breaths. 

     "Tuffnut," said Valkyrie in a matter-of-fact tone, "we've been through this. How can the world be round if you can drop off the end of it?" This was an obvious explanation, but for some reason, Tuffnut didn't seem to believe it.

    "I mean it!" he said back to her, waggling a finger towards her across Hiccup. Astrid chuckled at him. Valkyrie shared a dubious glance with Valka. "Think about it━the sun's round, the moon is round, stars are round, even though they are ... small and stupid." Ruffnut cackled at that. He nodded at her, agreeing. "Right? Stars━" he scoffed at the thought. 

     "Small and stupid," said Valkyrie, seemingly innocent until she landed her final blow, "sounds like your brain, Tuffnut." She laughed at the look of horror on his face, and the other Dragon Riders joined in, enjoying a short moment of remembrance, as if they were flying off towards adventures when they were younger again, searching for a place to make home to their Outpost. Young and free. 

      It made, for a moment, Valkyrie happy within this decision━forgetting why they had run from their home in the first place. She leaned down to kiss Linnea on the cheek and she smiled, turning her face to give Valkyrie one, too. 

     She missed the longing look Astrid seemed to have at the sight of mother and daughter. Pursing her lips, the blonde forced her gaze away, and automatically━as if with a mind of its own━it drifted backwards to Valkyrie's brother, who looked more like an idiot than usual, still having trouble with Spikemoth's determination to set down, but it made Astrid smile to herself. He was always an idiot, but instead of hating it, it had sort of ... become endearing: it was something that, no matter what he held himself as, or what part of himself he hid, this stupid, clumsy and flustered side of him always stayed the same. There was just something about the way he almost slid right off his saddle, despite being an amazing Dragon Rider, that made him ... perfect, almost. 

     And that started to scare Astrid quite a lot.

     At the front, Hiccup decided to look away from his spyglass, not wanting to admit that even he was starting to become tired and drained at staring at endless see for hours, now. He didn't know how far the end of the world was, or if anything would be there for him when they got there━he didn't want to think he led his entire village on a whim to find nothing ... Hiccup needed the Hidden World to be real. He needed for this to work. 

     Toothless perked up underneath him. Hiccup faltered, glancing down and reaching a hand to rest against his flank as he watched his dragon tilt his head in surprise, eyes going very wide. "Hey, what're you picking up on, bud?"

      He bellowed a low warble, his entire flight staggering to an upright, gentle hover as he searched the clouds. His ears quivered, his warbles grew more excited rather than curious.

     Hiccup and the Dragon Riders all followed the Night Fury's gaze, and their breaths hitched in absolute awe as from out of nothing━just a spark of a glorious pink-purple, shimmered into view a slender silhouette of moonlight before disappearing back behind the clouds, a small, purring roar perking Hiccup's dragon's ears and making his gums lift into a toothless smile.

      Valkyrie gasped, her eyes brightening. "It's the Light Fury!"

     Valka stood on the back of Cloudjumper to try and get a better look. Val glanced at her, excited. "She's following us!"

     Other Vikings turned to stare, and murmurs of surprise and disbelief echoed throughout the village. None of them could believe the sight of a dragon so similar to a Night Fury, and yet so different━with such grace and mystery she might as well be apart of the clouds herself: a shape they configured into their imagination. 

     Until she let out a cry and the sky exploded in a circle of fire and pink, and once she passed through it, she was gone again, invisible in the light.  

     The Vikings of Berk all gasped.

     "Odin, look at her━!"

      "━Where did she go━?" 

     "━She just disappeared━!'

     "━Is she made of sky?!" asked Tuffnut. 

     They all continued to watch as Hiccup switched Toothless's tail to help him follow the Light Fury up into the clouds━even he was barely able to control his friend's eagerness, gripping on tight as he spun and beaten his wings of fast, Hiccup had a hard time catching up to keep them aloft. 

     "Whoa, whoa━hang on, bud!" he chuckled, pulling them to a hover higher up in the clouds. They searched for the Light Fury amongst the sea of white.

     And when Hiccup glanced back, his face broke out into a grin. There she was again━shimmering white amongst blue as she showed herself yet again. She dived straight towards them.

     "Well," let out Hiccup, laughing, "look who it is!"

     His smile dropped when he saw the snarl on her face. She extended her claws, and his stomach fell. "Uh━?"

     Before he knew it, the Light Fury snatched him right off Toothless's saddle. 

    "WUAHHHHHHH━!" Hiccup cried, seeing the world spin as he was pulled from his dragon. He tried to grasp onto the Light Fury's legs, fingers brushing her scales. She kept flying higher and higher, and soon, the others were just a swarm of colours. "O━oh━" he chuckled nervously, "━hey, it's really nice to finally━AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH━!"

      Hiccup screamed as he was thrown. Arms flailing, body twisting━surprisingly, this was the first time he's been in such a decision, being thrown from a dragon's claws to his death to the ocean below. He sort of felt like Eret, or even Valkyrie all those years ago, and thought━Gods, it's far less exciting this way. 

     Watching him fall for a few seconds, the Light Fury then turned back to Toothless with a gummy grin, rather proud of herself. 

     He replied with a weak one of his own, before staring down at his screaming rider. He quickly dived down after him, by passing laughing Vikings who didn't even try to help. The Dragon Riders were laughing the most, hands to their hearts, doubled over in their saddles, listening to Hiccup's strangled screams knowing in a way, he definitely had it coming after all these years. 

     Eret son of Eret turned to Valkyrie to tell her, "This is oddly satisfying to watch."

     She laughed, agreeing. Snotlout groaned, as if Eret just speaking made him want to be thrown off Hookfang's saddle, too. 

     Eventually, Hiccup returned, perfectly fine and sitting in his saddle. He hunched up, glowering with his hair all over the place and bright red on his cheeks. Hearing their chuckles and laughter behind him, he grumbled out a, "Not a word."

      The Dragon Riders glanced at each other. They were most definitely not going to let this go. Even when they were old and grey, this will be the best story to tell. Right with when Hiccup knocked Snotlout out with a punch. Or when Snotlout got cuddled by a Changeling. Or when Tuffnut once believed he would be turning into a Lycanwing (they still have to assure him every full moon, though, that a Lycanwing wasn't a real dragon ...)

     Valkyrie started the sweet, playful jokes by veering Zephyr right in beside her husband to say, "Eret and I agree, you now know how it feels━"

     Hiccup threw his head back and cried out a, "Oh, for Thor's sake!"

     The Dragon Riders all continued to laugh at his reaction, continuing to jeer him for the trip ahead, neither of them too sure how long it'll take them. Tuffnut often mimicked his scream in dramatic retellings, just to be sure every Viking flying with them knew what had happened (it got more and more ridiculous as time went along). Snotlout took this chance to deem himself better, Valkyrie teased and she teased, Astrid laughed and Hott applauded with mocking cheers while Fishlegs did his best to defend Hiccup's honour as Eret bellowed a chesty laugh. 

     They actually had a good time, and Valkyrie appreciated it. She didn't know how they managed it, but no matter what they faced━the group of them always seemed to make each other feel better, make each other forget any troubles they faced, and laughed in the face of misery and disarray. Soon enough, Hiccup was laughing with them, not noticing the way Toothless peered, longing up at the clouds, realising that no matter what, he was still stuck on the tips of that tree, unable to follow━grounded while the rest could fly. 

     For the first time in a very long while, Toothless hated the prosthetic on his tail. 

════ ⋆★⋆ ════

     a/n: the light fury literally went yEEET━

     also mah boi toothless is a hopeless romantic and astrid is literally whipped by Hott's stupidity. like he does something ridiculous and she's heart eyes, because now she's finally gets to understand him and see him without him constantly flirting. she's seeing the true side of Hott and realising how much of a dork he actually is, like- 

     she's feeling respected and not like she's just a desire of snotlout's or any other viking, and I love it. 

     also not a small comeback to romantic flight but with valkyrie and linnea because she's the product of what that flight started all those years ago-

     (I love symbolism, okay?)