#god!toothless

For many years now, Astrid has been the chieftess of Berk and she’s been a Dragon Rider for much longer. She has seen many things in her life, been through a lot of bad and a lot of good, her body itself is a storybook. She considers them the reason why she is the capable warrior and leader that her people need her to be today.

But this… this is a first.

It happens at the end of a battle. The Berserkers were under attack by a hostile tribe and the Hooligans responded to their call for aid, honoring their alliance. The enemy was numerous and strong, but they were still both outmatched and outnumbered by their warriors, their dragons and their Dragon Riders. Their attempt to plunder the Berserkers was cute for sure, but in the end they had to admit defeat. The Berserker Chieftess, Heather, captured their leader.

Their spat was about the dragons. Just because the Berserkers have a few, having adopted Berk’s human-dragon utopian lifestyle, they were mistaken for being them. The thought of it makes her scoff, her late-husband didn’t dedicate his entire life to his mission of helping humans and dragons co-exist just for another tribe to be given that glore, whether it was on purpose or not.

Cleaning her axe free of blood, Stormfly pads up behind her and picks at her braid.

“Stormfly,” Astrid greets her dragon, her most trusted companion. Swinging her weapon over her shoulder and turning towards her to hold her chin. They’ve survived another battle together and she can see that the other Dragon Riders have as well, it does her heart good. The twins are a little signed, but nothing that they haven’t survived before.

Astrid realizes the reason she and her friends are still alive is in part due to the help of the wild dragons in the area joining the fight. It’s not an entirely uncommon occurrence, it’s happened on occasion in the past. Astrid is just glad that their unlikely friends could somehow tell the difference between the Hooligans, the Berserkers and the enemy for once. If humans fight in a territory they consider theirs, dragons tend to think every human is an interloper, even if they’re Dragon Riders.

No matter, it means they can all go home alive and relatively unharmed. Besides a sore shoulder where she took a bludgeon, she’s okay. She has her pauldrons to thank for that, her right one is bent out of shape.

Stormfly begins to chirp and squawk, her wings flap and flutter, head bobbing as if greeting. Out of nowhere, any hint of tiredness seems to have disappeared as she’s suddenly excited.

“Stormfly!” Astrid attempts to ease her dragon, wondering just what has ruffled her proverbial feathers. The Nadder seems to be calling out to something or someone. Astrid turns to look at who or what it is. When she realizes the source for her dragon’s excitement, she feels her heart halt behind her breast.

Up there, up on top of a cliff, she sees a dragon she hasn’t seen since before she became the chieftess of her village. A black and intimidating creature rare in the Barbaric Archipelago; a Night Fury. And Astrid swears she recognizes this one.

“Toothless?” The name slips past her lips before she can stop it, she hasn’t said it out loud in years.

The Night Fury looks her way and there’s no mistaking it. That’s him. It has to be him! One of her boys!

That’s when she sees the unmistakable figure of a man kneeling next to him, looking down from the cliff at the battlefield below with interest.

At the sight of him, her heart is torn out of her chest all over again, old wounds bleed and the iron chieftess of the nigh unbeatable human-dragon tribe is moved to tears.

Not even the distance between her position and the top of that cliff can dispute it. That’s Toothless and the man next to him is Hiccup.

She doesn’t know how it’s possible.

Years ago, decades ago, her husband and his dragon left their village together with her mother-in-law and her dragon, the Stormcutter Cloudjumper, on a mission and none of them ever returned. There were no letters, search and rescue missions turned up nothing, neither allies nor enemies had any idea where they might’ve gone. Valka and Cloudjumper eventually turned up, but even they had no idea what had happened to Hiccup and Toothless.

And now here they are.

“Hiccup,” a crack in her voice, a couple of steps closer, Astrid can’t find the strength to climb up on Stormfly’s back. She should be going right up there, question him, hug him and never let him go. Hug them and never let them go.

But something stops her and that something is the details.

Astrid is no longer a young woman. She has matured, she has wrinkles and a couple of gray hairs, though time has only aged her like a fine wine and she finds she’s stronger than she was back then.

But Hiccup… it’s as if he hasn’t aged a day. Perhaps, it’s the distance, but it’s truly as if she’s gazing up at her young husband, who she lost before they could start a family. They just barely got to celebrate their one year anniversary.

Stormfly calls out again, head bobbing, and Hiccup looks over. Their eyes meet and Astrid is even more convinced that she’s staring up at familiar eyes.

But there’s… no response. No flash of recognition on his part, not a hint of softness in his features, no attempt to say anything to her, even his attire appears guarded.

Not one single battle injury can ever compare to the pain and confusion she feels. The only comparison was the devastating realization that she was never going to see the love of her life ever again.

“Hiccup!” So she takes the first step, she calls out to him and finally there’s something of a reply.

He stands and backs away, Toothless growling.

“Fishlegs! Heather!” Astrid turns to the battlefield behind her, hoping she’s not the only one to see this, hoping to get someone’s attention, alert them. But they’re somewhat isolated, they’ve ended up quite far, friends looking her way, but incapable of seeing what she’s seeing or understanding what she’s shouting. Tuffnut cups both ears, Ruffnut is waving her arms while Snotlout is staring. Fishlegs is the only one running over.

By the time he reaches her, Hiccup might be gone.

So she climbs up on Stormfly back, intending to urge her dragon to go up to where she spotted her lost love. But when she looks up, the cliff is empty. Hiccup is already gone and so is Toothless.