AND JUST TO DISCLAIM ONE MORE TIME: I DO NOT OWN TOOTHLESS, HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON, THE CHARACTERS, THE PLOT, THE SCENES, THE DIALOGUE, OR ANYTHING HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON RELATED. THAT ALL BELONGS TO DREAMWORKS AND CRESSIDA COWELL.

A.N.

I promised myself that the last chapter wouldn't be the name of the story but...I broke that promise. What can I say? I'm a sucker for a good cliché. Actually, this whole chapter is pretty much a cliché. Sorry?

I am now happy to provide you all with the concluding chapter of No Longer Alone. As is customary, I hope you all enjoy.

Like any day within the past three weeks, the morning began with a daily routine; Stoick woke the entire house up (save for Hiccup) with a massive yawn, cooked breakfast, tossed Toothless a few fish, and then went out to attend to his chiefing duties. As he left, he reminded Toothless to look after Hiccup-such requests were now so habitual that it was almost like Toothless had always lived there. Through his ceaseless loyalty, the dragon had earned his place in the family, and Stoick seemed to agree with his admittance.

As Toothless lay beside his rider's bed, he heard something in the normally silent house. It was a groan-extremely quiet and probably undetectable by human ears. But he had heard it all the same...and it had come from Hiccup.

Toothless sat up wildly, frantic to look at his rider. Hiccup hadn't made any sounds in all his days of unconsciousness...but now…now he had. Could that mean what Toothless hoped it meant?

As the dragon watched, he saw Hiccup lift his arm out from under the covers to scratch his nose in his sleep, and he then laid the arm back along his stomach. The boy hadn't moved before either, which could only mean one thing-Hiccup was waking up.

Toothless was overwhelmed with joy in knowing that his rider with soon wake up, but the knowledge also made him impatient again. Moving his head close to Hiccup's, he scrutinized the boy's face for any evidence of further movement, but he only saw slight shifts in his mouth or motion beneath his eyelids. Toothless wanted to shake him awake so badly, but he knew Stoick would disapprove of that, so he tried to keep himself at bay. Instead, the dragon exhaled heavily, trying to harmlessly urge his rider to wake with the gust of air, but Hiccup's reactions were far from those of the conscious.

Toothless soon pulled his head back, reevaluating his tactics. What other ways could he indirectly wake Hiccup up?

Well, dragons were always making natural noises-it was in their nature. And Toothless was a dragon, after all. It would be a terrible shame if he were to start roaring and disrupting Hiccup's slumber, Toothless thought. A terrible shame, indeed, but also a seemingly unavoidable one. At least to Stoick, anyway.

But the dragon was not mean enough to roar-that would be a terrible way to start someone's day. So he settled on relatively loud snorts, sniffles, and gurgles.

At the sounds, the boy's eyes began cracking open tiredly, and he blinked a bit at the light.

He was awake! All bets were off-the time for patience was over!

Toothless began forcefully and incessantly nuzzling his rider, overcome with too much excitement and relief to really care about whether the contact was too rough. In all honesty, the nuzzles were more like headbutts, and Stoick would have probably scolded him heavily for being so aggressive. But that didn't matter to him right now. Nothing did-nothing except for the fact that Hiccup was awake. Finally awake!

"Hey Toothless," he whispered hoarsely, using his hands to try to block the onslaught of strong nuzzles. "I'm happy to see you too, bud."

But the dragon was still completely overwhelmed with joy at something as simple as the boy's consciousness, and he proceeded to affectionately lick Hiccup's face. The nuzzles had knocked his rider farther away, so he climbed up onto the bed to reach him better.

That, of course, had been a mistake. Toothless accidentally stepped on Hiccup's stomach, and the boy cried out in pain. At the sound, the dragon immediately retreated. He worried that if Hiccup became hurt again, he would go back into that coma, and Toothless would be alone again. So he waited and watched for a few seconds, making sure that was not the case.

The distance gave Hiccup a chance to absorb his surroundings, and he looked around with confusion.

"I'm...in my house," he observed with perplexity, soon turning back to Toothless. "Uh...you're in my house?"

The dragon took speech as an indication of continuous consciousness, but he still stayed back, wary of the boy's injuries. Instead, he jumped uncontrollably all over the hut, knocking over Stoick's possessions and climbing the rafters with jubilation. Hiccup soon began protesting the rowdy behavior, and he thus tried to sit up.

His rider became very quiet all of a sudden. Toothless suspected that the movement had alerted him to his missing lower leg, and he saw Hiccup lift up his blankets to look. Noticeably more solemn, the dragon climbed down from the rafters, looking at Hiccup curiously. He wondered how the boy would react to the newfound disability.

Unlike Toothless, who had experienced denial and flailed wildly when he discovered his missing tail-fin, Hiccup took a deep breath and swung his legs over the side of the bed. Toothless immediately sniffed the silvery prosthetic, wondering if it was uncomfortable or difficult to walk in. But he received no answers from its scent, so he looked inquisitively at his rider. Surprisingly, Hiccup seemed almost okay-his breathing was a bit heavy, and he looked a little sad, but he was otherwise very calm.

Then, Hiccup tried to walk, using the bedpost as an anchor. Standing seemed to take a lot of effort, but it seemed like he was going to be successful in the endeavor-until he took his second step, that is. Hiccup fell forward with a groan, but Toothless was ready, and he caught the boy with his head. His rider leaned against him for a few seconds, and the dragon could feel his fear and confusion in the rapid beats of his heart. But Toothless also knew that there was bravery in those heartbeats, and he pushed Hiccup back onto his feet, sure that he would learn to walk again. If anyone could do it, it was Hiccup.

"Thanks, bud."

But Hiccup wasn't prepared to let go of Toothless just yet, and that was fine with him. He let the boy use him as a crutch as he limped toward the door, thinking about what a pair they were-a dragon that couldn't fly without human help, and a human that couldn't walk without a dragon's help.

Together, they reached the door, and Hiccup struggled to undo the lock. As soon as he swung it open, though, he was greeted by the roar of the Monstrous Nightmare now known as Hookfang. Of course, he panicked, not expecting the once-hostile creature to be right outside, and he quickly slammed the door shut.

"Toothless," Hiccup breathed, pressed against the door with fear, "Stay here."

As his rider reopened the door, gazing out at the human and dragon populated town, the dragon supposed that the boy was in for many more surprises. It was not the same Berk he remembered.

In reality, Snotlout was leading the other riders in a dragon race, which Hiccup soon realized. He also noticed the feeding stations and hundreds of dragons, all grazing peacefully among the Vikings. Toothless recognized such changes were probably unbelievable to Hiccup, especially since he had not seen how they came to be.

"I knew it. I'm dead," he decided, unable to accept that this peaceful world was a reality.

Stoick was soon beside his son, trying to suppress his elation at Hiccup's return to consciousness-something that Toothless had failed at miserably. His only expression of affection was the arm he put around the boy. But the dragon could smell the salty, joyous tears that threatened to pour out. He was only acting tough to maintain the respect of his son and his people.

"No, but you gave it your best shot. So...what do you think? " Stoick asked, gesturing to the new and improved village and steering his son toward it. Toothless followed his rider's instructions, though, and watched from within the hut.

Hiccup was a bit too stunned to respond immediately, but even if he was thinking of a reply, his train of thought was soon interrupted by the yells of the Vikings. They were announcing his return to the outside world, and they soon crowded around him.

Hiccup talked with his father and Gobber for a bit before Astrid came strolling in. Instead of fawning over him like everyone else, she punched him in the arm-hard-and Hiccup cried out.

"That's for scaring me," she said in mock contempt.

"Wha-What?" Toothless's rider stammered, quickly becoming irritated. "Is it always going to be this-?"

He didn't get to finish, though. Not before Astrid did that lip-peck thing again-this time right on Hiccup's lips. The other Vikings made little sighing sounds, probably thinking that the young love was cute. By the time Astrid released Hiccup, his irritation had disappeared, and he stood sort of dazed.

"-I could get used to it," Toothless heard his rider finish.

Gobber then placed the new tail-prosthetic in Hiccup's arms, and the dragon took that as an invitation to leave. He moaned, alerting the people that he was exiting the house for the first time in weeks. They would probably be happy about that too-the Vikings admired him almost as much as they did Hiccup.

"Night Fury!" they screamed jokingly. "Get down!"

As he lunged over the crowd, Toothless jumped onto the shoulders of two unsuspecting men, and they were soon pulled to the ground by the dragon's weight. Everyone laughed, thinking he was just being playful. But in truth, Toothless really didn't want anything to get between him and his rider again-especially not now that Hiccup was, without a doubt, ready to fly.

He cooed, and the boy gave him a look that returned his eagerness to take off.

Soon enough, the new artificial tail-fin was attached, and Hiccup had learned to use his new prosthetic to operate the pedal. Things were different now...for both of them. But their friendship-their bond remained as strong, if not stronger, than ever.

Astrid stood beside them on her Deadly Nadder, whom she had named Stormfly. They were preparing to race, and Toothless supposed that would be a good way to get back into the swing of things.

"You ready?" Hiccup asked him, patting his head briefly. Toothless nodded and purred in response. He was more than ready-this is what he had waited for during those three long weeks.

And it was all worth it.

Both dragons extended their wings, flapping them to quickly become airborne. The race was on.

Toothless's wings were stiff from disuse, and that allowed Astrid and Stormfly to get a lead on them. But he was very determined, and so was Hiccup. That lead would not last for long-the sky was theirs. They had claimed it long ago, together.

The competitors navigated between huts and tunnels, diving toward the water and flying along the cliffs. Fully enjoying the sensation of being in the air again, Toothless released a screech of pure happiness, and so did Hiccup. Euphoria was a shared emotion between them.

Seeing the fun, the other riders soon joined the race. They all wanted to know how they would fare against the friends that had broken down the barriers between a feuding species-that had ended the reign of a terrible tyrant.

Eventually, Toothless and Hiccup lunged ahead of the rest of the group, including Astrid and Stormfly. The time for physical recovery was over, and Toothless began defending his title of "Fastest Dragon" with a vengeance. He was not about to let these novice riders win. Perhaps he was pretentious, or overestimated his own abilities, but with Hiccup flying with him, the world seemed entirely conquerable. It wasn't an enemy to him-not anymore. It was a place to be explored...to be flown around at impossible speeds...to be shared with his rider.

As he flew on, Toothless noticed all the Vikings below interacting with the dragons. The feud was over, and he knew that there would be more dragon riders soon-perhaps hundreds of them. All the Vikings would probably claim to have an inseparable bond with their dragons, and Toothless would probably believe them. But he also knew that those bonds would never come close to the one he had with Hiccup.

Hiccup wasn't just his rider or his friend; Hiccup was Toothless, just as Toothless was Hiccup. And though they were physically separate, they felt as though they were one-two halves of a whole, a human with the soul of a dragon and a dragon with the soul of a human.

It was certainly strange, being two different creatures but still entirely one being. Despite that, it felt so incredibly right that the peculiarity went completely unnoticed. Toothless realized that he was not meant to be alone-he never had been. Somehow, no matter the circumstances, he would have found Hiccup...would have befriended him. It wasn't possible for such unbelievingly similar and ultimately identical creatures to exist by coincidence. No, something had intended them to find each other-to quell the loneliness in each other's hearts. Together, they were no longer alone, no longer so "different"-because despite being outcasts among their own kind, they had found someone who reflected them. And perhaps the reflection wasn't a perfect likeness, but that was okay. That was what made it work.

Now enjoying a trick they had once found dangerous, Toothless and Hiccup began a steep climb into the sky. They flew toward the sun, their hearts beating simultaneously as their yells and roars merged into a single sound of blissful exhilaration. Higher and higher they flew, unimpeded by fear or weakness.

They had no time for such things now. Fear and weakness belonged with the lonely things...the things that dwelled in darkness. But Hiccup and Toothless? They preferred to stay in the sun, reveling in bravery, strength, and love-things they had now found in each other and themselves.

I am now happy to announce that this story is complete. If you've made it this far, you're amazing, and I am so grateful for your devotion to my work. I hope you liked my interpretation of Toothless and HTTYD. I know my story was far from perfect, and maybe it wasn't the Toothless that you all imagined, but I had so much fun writing it.

I'll be writing another Toothless POV about Gift of the Night Fury ASAP, so please stay tuned for that. I'm also planning a more original story of my own. I probably will not have time to write a Defenders or Riders of Berk POV from Toothless, but my original story will probably include his POV.

Before you go, I'd be very thankful if you'd leave a review. Tell me how I did and what I could do better-it would help me immensely. I'd be especially grateful for tips on my writing/grammar/language, since my hopeful-career will be dependent on that.

But most of all-a humongous thank you to all the people who already followed, favorited, and reviewed this story! You guys inspire me so much!

Sorry again for the mix up with the last two chapters. I hope it didn't mess you guys up too much.

And for final clarification, Toothless did not bite off Hiccup's leg in this story. He bit down hard enough, anchored with teeth, to mangle the leg beyond repair. It would be better for Hiccup to have a usable prosthetic than an unusable leg.

Once again, thank you for all the reviews, praise and criticism alike! Your favorites, follows, and views are equally appreciated! Love you guys!