The night Jim was waiting for had finally arrived: a full moon with not a cloud in sight. With the help of Blinky and Draal, he had forged a new tail fin for Toothless and redone the mechanism that controlled it, hopefully giving both him and the dragon a greater range of movement and motion.

Now, he and his Night Fury friend crept out from under Arcadia Bridge into the moonlight, and many of his companions waited in the dry canal; Toby, Claire, Barbara, Blinky, Draal, and even Vendel had gathered to watch the Trollhunter and his dragon take flight. The elder of Trollmarket chortled at Jim's curious glance.

"No one, Troll or man, has seen a dragon in centuries," he said. "I'd rather not miss seeing such a momentous occasion." Jim smiled and nodded, then turned to his mother as she approached him and gave him a hug.

"Please be careful," she said as she stroked his hair. "Don't try anything too dangerous."

"Don't worry, Mom," he grinned and patted her back. "I'll be fine."

"Man, I am so jealous," Toby groaned once the two had released their embrace. "You're going to ride a flying dragon! That's so cool!" He fidgeted, giddy at the prospect. "Heh, even cooler than cool. It's crispy!" Claire punched his arm with a snort, and he muttered as he rubbed the impacted spot. Jim laughed and scratched Toothless's head, and the dragon's tongue lolled out as he swung his tail back and forth in anticipation.

"Okay, okay," Jim shook his head and hoisted himself onto the dragon's back and slipped his foot onto the pedal controlling the tail fin. He gave it a couple of quick adjustments to make sure it was working correctly, and Toothless vibrated like he could barely keep himself on the ground. The Trollhunter looked over his friends, his family, and gave them a grin and a thumbs up.

"Good luck, Master Jim," Blinky bade. "And Toothless, you magnificent creature, bring him home safely." Toothless rumbled and licked Blinky's outstretched hand, covering it in slobber.

"I'll be back soon," Jim said with a nod, then set himself into position on Toothless's back and grabbed the handles of the mechanism, then adjusted the pedal. "All right, Toothless…" His heart hammered with excitement and he could feel the dragon tense as he spread his wings. "Fly!" With a great flap and a leap, Toothless propelled himself into the air with Jim once again hanging on for dear life as awed and excited voices followed him up. Now that they had a proper tail fin, the ride up was much smoother than it had been in the Darklands, though hurtling hundreds of feet up in seconds was still both terrifying and exhilarating for the Trollhunter.

Toothless leveled out quite a ways up, and Jim took a breath to test the air at this altitude. It was a bit thinner than he was used to, but he figured he'd be okay for the duration of their test drive. He looked over Toothless's wing at the glittering lights of Arcadia below, and he couldn't help but smile. Everything looked so small from that height, and yet he felt like he was overseeing the world he had sworn to protect. The lives down there were precious to him, and he would do anything to keep them safe.

Toothless rumbled excitedly as he looked back at Jim, grinning in his own way. Jim laughed and scratched the back of his head.

"Alright, buddy. Let's see how fast you can go." He adjusted Toothless's tail slightly, and he could have sworn the dragon started laughing too. Next thing he knew, Toothless gave a great thrust back of his wings, propelling them forth at speeds that nearly took Jim's breath away. He bent down as flat as he could on the dragon's back as the world below zipped by, and soon, they had left Arcadia far behind and Jim saw a different type of glittering light below. It took him a moment to realize that they were now flying over the ocean. He'd never realized it was so close to Arcadia, then noticed that distance was relative. Toothless ruled the skies and could fly faster than the wind itself, it seemed, and that dragon was without a doubt having fun with this. This was his chance to show his new partner what he was capable of, and he knew it.

He suddenly nosed down and Jim yelped as they dove toward the water. The Trollhunter's grip tightened on the handles and his body went rigid as he kept his position, a wide and nearly hysterical grin on his face. Toothless leveled out just above the water's surface and snatched something from underneath, and Jim looked over to find the dragon had caught a large fish that he promptly swallowed, then looked back at his rider with his own smile.

"Nothing better than freshly caught, huh?" Jim asked as he scratched the side of the dragon's head, and Toothless rumbled happily. "But come on, bud! Is that all you got?" Toothless eyed him and rolled in the air, his wings splashing through the waves and Jim biting back a scream as he held on. The dragon flew back up in the blink of an eye, spinning as he went, and he suddenly dropped with his tongue wiggling in the wind and saliva dripping out. Jim was laughing so hard he could barely breathe as he glanced around the stars above and the ocean below. He adjusted Toothless's tail and the dragon regained his lost altitude, then leveled out and slowed down as he looked back at the Trollhunter once more.

"This is amazing," Jim marveled as he sat up, then laid back to look at the sky. "You're pretty amazing, bud." Toothless gurgled happily in response. "I can't imagine what you've been through," he went on, now more thinking out loud. "A couple of weeks in the Darklands was awful for me. You've been there ever since

the Battle of Killahead…" He patted the dragon's back. "I missed my friends so much when I was there. I bet you really miss Hiccup." Toothless rumbled gently at the mention of the old chief's name, and he looked up at Jim with what the Trollhunter thought might have been a trace of grief in his green eyes. Jim curled forward and hugged the dragon's head. "Saying goodbye to the people you love is hard," he said gently. "But to do that and be stuck in the Darklands for so long… You really are incredible, Toothless." He leaned his head against the dragon's, and Toothless let out a sound like a purr. "Well, don't worry, bud," Jim went on. "I don't plan on going anywhere anytime soon. And we'll pay back the Gumm-Gumms for how they treated you." He looked up at the moon again. "And for everything they've done." He sat up and took hold of the handles again. "Alright, bud. What do you say we start heading back? Mom will kill me if I stay out too late." He chuckled at the thought. He gave the handles a bit of a tug and Toothless veered around toward land, and once again he shot forth with incredible speed that made the wind howl around them.

"Hey Toothless," Jim snickered as he held himself close to the dragon. "Think you and I could take Claire for a flight sometime soon? I bet she'd love it." He couldn't help but laugh at himself. "Toby too, I guess. And Mom. As long as she can stop screaming." It wasn't long before the lights of Arcadia came into view once again, and just a few moments longer that Jim spotted his friends in the canal near the bridge watching the sky for his return. Blinky was the first to wave all four arms at him and Toothless, and Toothless dove down and flared his wings at the last moment for an effortless landing.

"How was it? How was it?!" Claire demanded as he slid off Toothless's back and hugged her, then his mother.

"Amazing," he replied. "I'll have to take you up there sometime." Claire smiled warmly at the idea.

As they chattered and asked about his first flight this side of Killahead, Toothless stuck close to Jim with his own smile, tongue hanging out. Jim scratched the side of his head, then leaned in to press his forehead to the dragon's nose. Toothless closed his eyes, his breath gentle. This Night Fury was special, Jim realized, even among dragons.

"We're home, bud," he said gently. "Thank you."

Author's Note: Short ending chapter, I know, but I wanted to give Jim and Toothless a chance to really form their bond as friends and as rider and dragon, plus letting Toothless truly fly again. Sorry it took so long to post! I've been wildly busy with a bunch of other projects, including a Trollhunters story titled The Brink of Change. The only problem is that it would technically be an alternate scenario since I started drafting and writing it before Season 2 was released. I'm tweaking a few things to follow canon a bit more, and I'm pretty proud of how it's coming out so far. Should you read it once I post it, I hope you enjoy! And if not, thank you for reading this short story. I had a lot of fun with it, and I hope you did too.
~Brawlingwolf