Summary: Fix-it fic. The Riders will always find their way back to their dragons. Set after the dragons leaving, disregards the tag. Follows the leaving scene, but assumes that Hiccup sent Toothless away for the dragons' own protection, not because he was besotted with some white floozy.

Thanks to Thursday26 for the beta. Any remaining mess is mine.

Dragonese courtesy of TamerLorika over on the AO3.

It's Valka and Snotlout who find their way to the Hidden World first.

A more unlikely pair would be hard to imagine. But Snotlout gets the location out of Astrid – he doesn't know, to this day, what made her tell him. Perhaps it's the fact that Snotlout cried as he was begging her. Perhaps it's the fact that Hiccup always has a vacant look in his eyes whenever he's not actively being chief, he's skinnier than before (and he never really had much to lose in the first place), his cheeks hollowing out, and no matter what Astrid tries, she can't bring him back from wherever he goes when he's not dealing with village business, eyes vacant and...soulless.

So Snotlout takes out a sailboat. He doesn't care whether he lives or dies, and when Fishface sees him preparing the boat, his eyes flicker to the saddle at the bottom of the craft. He doesn't say anything out loud, but he doesn't try to stop him. Snotlout takes a few hours to prepare the hull. Maybe he'll die, he thinks as he checks it for leaks and paints it with gum. They say time doesn't pass as slow in Valhalla. If he makes it there. And he'll see Hookfang again.

When the moon is high in the sky and the sea is calm as a mirror, he starts to push out the boat, and from between the newly-built huts and the trees surrounding them, Valka comes out, silent, staff in hand and a serious look in her eyes. She meets Snotlout's gaze. He doesn't know how he knows: perhaps it's the soft rattle of her staff, the one she always used to communicate with dragons, or perhaps the way her head is tilted, more dragon-like than any human. Or the way she looks out onto the horizon, up, then down. Slowly, he nods and makes room.

They sail out in the calm waters, and although Valka stands tall in the small craft, like a captain, she doesn't rock the boat. Even though it bobs and bounces from side to side with the crest and swell of the waves as he rows them out through the surf surrounding New Berk, she stays standing, unruffled by the bob and sway of the boat, the way she used to balance on Cloudjumper's shoulders like she was poised on solid ground.

She doesn't take issue with Snotlout's hair-brained plan, and they sail over the edge of the waterfall. The boat tumbles end over end through the emptiness and endless sea-spray. Droplets of water shimmer into rainbows all around them, and he feels himself less falling than drifting, along with the weightlessness of the cascades of water shimmering through luminescent algae. Too bad, he gambled and lost, he thinks as he tumbles end over end, the boat a speck through the curtains of water, a black, incongruous blot on the glowing shapes. Just like Snotlout's a blot on this perfect world, he thinks, steeling himself for whatever lies on the other side...

He'd planned to see Hookfang in Valhalla, but he ends up seeing his ornery bastard of a Nightmare sooner than that. Warm scales scoop him up, a familiar spiny ridge snatching him out of the freefall and depositing him on a luminescent ledge. There's a distant crash as the boat hits a rock and shatters, some dragons yowling in alarm. In the distance, Snotlout can just glimpse Cloudjumper swooping Valka up, the older woman landing as lightly on his back as if she were half Snotlout's age, the pair of them soaring off into the shining, glowing algae.

But nothing could outshine the bulbous yellow eyes fixed on him, narrowed and scared, though Hookfang's lips are retracted from his teeth in a very convincing snarl. Well, convincing to anyone but Snotlout. "Falling through air?" Hookfang tries for scolding as Snotlout clings to his snout, but the dragon's voice is ragged. "Think can-fly without dragon? Sail off edge with no help! Try to kill self—" The volume in his rant decreases noticeably. "S—Snotlout human, not dragon. Stupid…" Hookfang shakes his head as though there's something in his ear, letting out a whine that makes Snotlout want to hold him and protect him from any hurt that would ever force him to make that sound again. "...Stupid!" He whines again. "Stupid! S—stupid…"

Then Hookfang breaks off entirely and wraps his wings around Snotlout, whining "Without little brother, no-life. Never go. Never leave," in a voice as lost and vulnerable as a nestling's. For his part, Snotlout clings and clings like he'll never let go.

And he never will. He can camp out here. Or live on Berk and come here after work. Or something. Because by the way Hookfang's clinging to him, all his brave talk about not needing any human (especially Snotlout) was just that: talk. And Snotlout feels the same.

It's not a day later that Fishlegs sails off the edge of the world, looking for Snotlout. At least, that's what he'll tell everyone was the plan if he fails to find the Hidden World…

His breath catches in his throat as the waterfall comes into view, world without end. It looks as big as the world, and his mind catches on what is the force that makes the seawater fall into the hole but never fill it, by all rights it should be subsumed by the ocean. With the volume of water falling into it, it shouldn't exist by now—

Then his boat falls over the edge, sucked in by the waterfall. He should panic. He should believe he's going to die. But he's never felt so calm.

Wonders greet his eyes as he falls as if in slow-motion: he's seen luminous algae before, but never on a scale so vast, and idly wonders if a system could be set up to cultivate such algae for a light-source in human dwellings. Probably not, they seem very location-specific, and...

Meatlug plucks him out of the air, Fishmeat buzzing excitedly alongside her. "Hey, girl!" Fishlegs squeals, hugging her and reaching out to scratch the baby. "Look how Fishmeat's grown!" Six weeks makes a lot of difference in a baby dragon's appearance: he's less of a hatchling now and more of a fledgling, flying well on his own and squeaking excitedly.

"Missed Fishlegs," Meatlug purrs to him. "Stay. Make-nest. Cloudjumper and Hookfang made nests with Valka and Snotlout."

Fishlegs nuzzles her. "Nothing could keep me away."

Snotlout and Fishlegs wake up a week later to the sight of two tall, skinny figures silhouetted against a backdrop of bioluminescent algae, Zippleback necks twined about them. Fishlegs rolls over Meatlug's leg and Snotlout pokes his head out from under Hookfang's wing.

"Hey, a nest. Snot-man, you and Fishlegs made yourselves pretty comfortable here without my annoying sister."

"Your annoying sister is right here, troll-breath."

"See? Annoying. –Ow!"

"Dragon-nest peaceful place," Barf admonishes.

"You mean was peaceful," mutters Belch. "Until humans showed back up."

"Good," says Barf. "Too peaceful." He nuzzles Ruffnut. "Boring."

"Hard to cause chaos," explains Belch, "without humans to blame."

"Oh, so we're your scape-yaks?" Ruffnut puts a hand on her hip. "Charming. To think we missed you."

Tuffnut nuzzles Belch. "Well, your nest is boring no more."

Fishlegs and Snotlout look at each other. Snotlout burrows back under Hookfang's wing. "Wake me," he calls to Fishlegs, "when the explosions are over and it's time for breakfast."

"Stormfly?"

Astrid paces through the clustered rows of Nadder family groups in the dark of pre-dawn, the algae providing enough light to see by but not enough light to identify an individual dragon. "Stormfly," Astrid whispers. She wants to call out loud, but she knows to be wary of the dragons here, so unused to human presence. Stormfly will hear a whisper, and it won't disturb the peace of the wild ones. Hopefully. "Meatlug brought me," she whispers again, as though Stormfly can hear her. "I know you're down here. Please, girl, I want to talk to you!"

There's a humming of wings and Meatlug, who had flown on ahead, is back, hovering next to Astrid. "Thought Stormfly out here, but not," she says softly in her Gronckle grunt. "Went back to chamber deep inside. Come?" She settles on the soft floor of the passageway, gesturing with wide-pupiled eyes at Astrid to get on her back.

Swallowing, Astrid does. Meatlug hovers up a few feet and powers them smoothly forward into the depths of the nest, through a luminous corridor and up a soaring chamber, past towering mushroom-heads hundreds of feet high. Astrid clings on, flat against Meatlug's back, trying to appear as inconspicuous as possible. Like a bump on a dragon-log, she thinks, choking on a hysterical laugh. The situation is not one for laughter.

Meatlug darts into another living passageway, pulsing slightly with the light of eggs buried in the heart of the plant matter. Astrid barely has the time to glance at them before Meatlug emerges into an organic, soft chamber, glowing on all sides, dark shapes rising from the floor like living, rounded stalagmites.

The shapes resolve into dragons. There's the large silhouette of a Stormcutter— Cloudjumper!— then another dragon sleeping, and—

"Stormfly!" Astrid flings herself at the birdlike figure, who stills in shock for an instant and then nuzzles and scent-marks her all over, everywhere she can reach. "Oh Stormfly…" She never cries, but here in this pulsing natural cavity, there are no rules, and she clings to her battle-partner and comrade, and sobs, letting out every ache she's felt since the day she had to say goodbye to her dragon.

Stormfly makes all sorts of distressed noises, bustling around Astrid and nuzzling her wherever she can. "Not-cry. Astrid not-cry," she begs, voice wavering like she's going to cry as well. "Stormfly love Astrid."

Astrid chokes in surprise. Stormfly is never this open with her emotions. Separation has been hard on them all. "Oh, Stormfly…" They nuzzle and hug for a long time, and Astrid sinks to her knees…

Then she sees who the sleeping dragon is. The King of Dragons. The Alpha. Toothless. And he's lying on his stomach, eyes closed, still.

"What's wrong with him?!" Astrid bends low, taking Toothless' head in her hands. Until she feels his warmth, she has to push away a horrible suspicion that he's already dead. Toothless is barely breathing, the shallow breaths hardly moving his chest.

"Why Stormfly sent Meatlug for Astrid," whispers Meatlug.

"He's as dumb as my stupid cousin." Astrid turns to find Snotlout in the entrance, the familiar silhouette of Hookfang at his side. His normally loud tones are hushed, in deference to the sacredness of this soft heart of a place. "That idiot thinks he's doing this idiot," Snotlout gestures to Toothless, "a favor."

"Not-eat," Cloudjumper murmurs, Valka at his side. He nuzzles the half-dead dragon with his great head. "Not-eat for weeks. Dragons feed Alpha like hatchling. Then Alpha stop-eating even that."

"But why?" Astrid whispers, even though she already knows.

"Grief," Cloudjumper says.

"Grief for Hiccup-mate," Stormfly clicks sadly. "Think… think better for Hiccup stay away."

"Hiccup's not eating either." Astrid hears the words come out of her without any emotion behind them. She feels like she's in a trance. She passes a hand over Toothless' head. He's barely moving. There is absolutely no reason for her to feel that the algae glowing beneath him are the only thing keeping him alive.

"We've got to do something!" Astrid turns to find that Fishlegs has appeared behind Snotlout, sharing a soft look with Meatlug, who hasn't moved from her spot since she came in. "It's killing them both!"

"Duh, Captain Obvious," Tuffnut shakes his head— wait, when did the twins come in?

"I know I'm the brilliant one, but I'm stumped here," Ruffnut grates. "How do we cure the Idiot Pair?"

The word flashes across Astrid's mind like a clue, and she squeezes her eyes shut, remembering how Hiccup would say, 'Pair! Ruffnut, you're a genius!' She bolts to her feet with a determined look at her partner. "Stormfly, you up for a flight?"

Hiccup's bed is warm. He wishes he could just stay forever. There's nothing to leave for, anyway. Well, there are the villagers, who need him; there's Astrid, his betrothed; there are his friends, although he can't remember the last time he saw them these past few days and it's not like they really need him for anything anyway.

He turns onto his side. He had a dream… he pushes it out of his mind. Falling. It's always falling. It doesn't matter, though. Nothing matters. Not really. And it's not the falling that really bothers him, it's the aching, bone-deep knowledge that no one is going to catch him this time.

He doesn't think of Toothless, flying, not falling. Without anyone to help. The way he should. The way he always should have, before Hiccup interrupted his life. He doesn't think of Toothless going back to his home, his real home, with dragons, with his own kind. Free of the encumbrance of humans. Of stupidly clingy humans who don't know when to let go. Who should never have been there in the first place. Who should have died, born too early into this world and too stubborn to go to Valhalla. Do babies go to Valhalla? he thinks idly, but he can't keep hold of the thought long enough to ponder it. Thoughts seem to slip away from him these days easier than usual.

Moments pass. Or hours. He doesn't really have a sense of time the way he used to. The sun is up. He should get breakfast. Although that thought turns his already-empty stomach. It just seems… like too much trouble. Getting a plate, loading it up, then picking up the food and putting it in his mouth… perhaps he can pretend he ate something, to avoid people's nagging (it could be his mom, or Gobber, or another person. They all start to blur together after a while), and go straight to Gobber's, where there's some paperwork for the village stored in the back room. He can't stand to be anywhere but the forge these days. Anywhere else is too cold.

"Hiccup!" That's his mom's voice. When was the last time he spoke to her? Was it hours? Days? He doesn't want to talk to her. She'll badger him about eating again, or staying too long in bed, or sleeping too much. He squeezes his eyes closed and burrows into the blanket. Maybe if he's very still, and she looks in here and can't see him in the dark, she'll think he's already left the house…

"Hiccup, Cloudjumper's here. It's Toothless."

Hiccup's mind stutters and everything seizes. For a moment his heart stops. What—?!

"He's sick," Valka's voice comes up the stairs, and where there was stillness, a chill floods through Hiccup and he's flinging the covers aside, swinging his legs out of bed. (His mom and Gobber like to nag him about sleeping with his prosthetic on, too.) But the room spins when he stands and he has to lean on the bed with both hands, breathing hard. There are more footsteps and then his mother's speaking again, sounding much closer. "I prepared some herbs for him."

Hiccup straightens, managing to stay upright. "Let's…" He swallows. There's an unendurable ache in his chest and shoulders and arms, to go to Toothless and make sure he's all right, but he clenches his fists and rides it out. Toothless doesn't need reminders of his old life. Hiccup swore to let him go, and he's going to let him go. "You go," he chokes out. He can't see Toothless. Can't burden him with his presence. Can't go chasing after him like a… like some kind of…

"I can't," Valka says, moving closer. "I have to help Gothi deliver a baby."

"Uh…"

Hiccup tries to say something more – he's not sure what – but then a package is pressed into his hands. "Will you be all right taking Cloudjumper?" Valka asks urgently. "He needs this now."

"Uh…" Hiccup nods, making some sort of affirmative sound, and staggers down the stairs. He scrambles onto Cloudjumper's broad back, stuffing the package into his breastplate and clinging on with both hands as the four massive wings beat down against the air and they take off.

Hiccup's faintly surprised to see his human friends lining the corridor as Cloudjumper escorts him through. The huge Stormcutter just barely fits. Everything is soft and pulsing around him, like the fear in his heart.

He comes out into a chamber and his heart stops all over again. Toothless is huddled in a heap on the glowing, organic surface. He opens his mouth to say "Toothless", but nothing comes out. In a heartbeat he's by Toothless' side, holding his face, pressing his cheek to the spines on his head. Toothless doesn't move and Hiccup's chest seizes. He can feel his lungs constricting, tight and painful—if—if Toothless doesn't move, if he's—if—if he's—

But there's an infinitesimal movement beneath his cheek and tears spill from Hiccup's eyes onto the black, dry scales. "Hey, bud," he manages to whisper, voice scraping against his disused throat.

Toothless' eyes snap open and his head turns to the side, pupils narrowing in shock. Then they widen, full and round— but he can't keep his eyes open for long, and his eyelids slide closed again. Hiccup pulls the herbs from his flight suit. "Help me," he says desperately to the humans and dragons around him.

Someone brings him a bowl with water in it – it might be Tuffnut, he's not sure. But then someone else, a dragon this time, regurgitates a mouthful of fish. He looks up, stomach rebelling at the sight and smell of regurgitated fish, and it's Hookfang. "Stupid dragon not-eat," Hookfang rumbles.

"Hookfang always-disrespect Alpha," Meatlug purrs fondly.

The byplay would be charming if he was listening, but Hiccup can't really concentrate. He puts the herbs in the water and squeezes them to make a tea. "Toothless," he says softly. "Please. C'mon." His heart is no longer in his chest, it's here in his hands, in Toothless' closed eyes, in the weakness he can feel in the black scaly body that's dearer to him than his own. Save him. He must.

With what gentleness he can, Hiccup pries open Toothless' mouth and pours the tea into it, rubbing the beloved face and neck with his other hand and watching the throat bob as Toothless swallows. "Atta boy," Hiccup whispers, blinking hard as dizziness takes him again. "C'mon, bud. You can do it…"

"Try make-eat," Cloudjumper rumbles. "Long time not-eat."

"Okay. Okay…" Hiccup reaches for one of the fish in the pile by their side and holds it up to Toothless' mouth, hoping, praying. He clenches his fists against a wave of weakness and keeps his hand still. First, Toothless' nostrils flare, sniffing – it looks like he's sniffing at Hiccup's hand, although it makes more sense that he'd be sniffing at the fish. When Toothless opens his mouth and slurps up the offering, it's like something unknots in Hiccup and he slumps next to Toothless, picking up the next fish in his right hand, his left wrapped around Toothless' neck like maybe he'll drown if he lets go. "Atta boy." He's so cold, but Toothless is warm under his arm, his breaths puffing out heat. "Come on…"

Toothless' neck shifts under Hiccup's arm and he slurps up a second fish, then a third. It heals Hiccup to see him swallowing. "That's it. Yeah. You can do it, bud. Come on. Can you do another one?" Hiccup feels himself smile like it's the first time in years. "There you go." He feeds Toothless another fish, rubbing his head and neck. "Yeah, baby!" he whispers…

He only realizes his arm is numb when it's too late. It's not just his arm: it's his head. And neck. And… Drat, he should have eaten something, Hiccup thinks in exasperation as he slumps over Toothless, black spots swarming in his vision and blocking out the sight of the glowing walls. This is no time to pass out.

When Hiccup wakes up, he's draped over a black scaly lap, wings blocking his field of vision. Someone's hand carefully feeds him a piece of something. He squints: his mother?! But he left her in the village… "How long've I been out?" he slurs.

"Hiccup not-eat," Toothless murmurs above him. "Eat now."

Valka puts another piece of something in his mouth. He makes it out as cooked fish. He chews and swallows slowly, taking in where he is. Toothless is sitting on his haunches, Hiccup lying across his lap, head and knees supported by solid, squat legs. As Hiccup eats, Toothless rubs his chin over the top of his head, scent-marking him, and gives his cheek a small, worried lick. "I'm okay, bud," Hiccup whispers. "How are you feeling…" He trails off as Toothless nuzzles his face and Valka feeds him another piece of fish. "I can—do it myself…" Hiccup protests, turning his head aside, embarrassed. It's even worse when he sees the entire human-dragon complement of Dragon's Edge standing right there, watching him anxiously. Or maybe they're worried about Toothless? "What… Are you okay?" Hiccup asks him, struggling to sit upright. "Tooth—"

"Don't ya get it, ya muttonhead?" Snotlout snorts. He's standing so close to Hookfang they're practically welded together. "Neither of you is okay without the other. Duh." The Nightmare rubs his chin over his bare head as he's talking. "You didn't eat, he didn't eat, you weren't sleeping, he…"

But Hiccup's not listening to Snotlout any more. He looks up at Toothless as Valka steadily places pieces of fish into Hiccup's hand and waits for him to put them into his mouth. "You…" he whispers. Huge green eyes meet Hiccup's, the pupils blown so wide they cover the irises. They're every bit as otherworldly as they were the first time he and Hiccup met. There's nothing like looking into Toothless' eyes. Hiccup's hand falls away from his mouth, the piece of fish Valka gave him clasped loosely in his fingers. "You didn't eat?"

Toothless's wide eyes close in a long, slow blink. Then he looks away.

"Why?" Hiccup whispers.

"The man asks why." That's Tuffnut's voice.

"For someone so smart, you sure are stupid sometimes," says Ruffnut.

"Can't you see that he can't live without you?" Astrid chimes in. Her tone is soft, but there's something about it that won't be denied.

Hiccup shakes his head—but then there's another wave of dizziness and he has to close his eyes. "Hiccup please careful," Toothless croons, and tears spring to Hiccup's eyes to hear that beloved voice speaking to him again. He turns his head inward, toward Toothless' stomach, not wanting the humans to see his tears.

"Why… why weren't you eating, bud?" Hiccup whispers.

Toothless' eyes slip shut. "Sorry. Stupid."

"Nothing that has you upset is stupid, bud. Nothing." He presses closer into Toothless. "Talk to me."

"Not-want disturb Hiccup... stupid-problems."

Hiccup shifts a little in Toothless' embrace. Behind the sweep of black wings, the other humans and dragons in the chamber seem further away. Is his vision going again? "What problems?" he asks urgently, because if Toothless has a problem, that's the only thing that matters. "Is it hunters? Or – no, you were sick, right?" His chest tightens at the thought of his mother's panicked call. "What's wrong, bud?" He tries to right himself. "How are you feeling?"

"Not-sick." Toothless looks down. "Valka said Toothless sick… but not sick. Sorry take Hiccup from chief duty."

"No, no, no!" Hiccup shakes his head until a wave of dizziness forces him to stop. "You're my duty—I mean, you're…" He's taken aback by the sudden sorrow in Toothless' eyes and his heart goes out to the dragon. Subsiding, he reaches out a hand, palm up. "What's wrong, bud?" he says softly, letting his concern show in his voice.

Toothless almost shudders with the force of what Hiccup can plainly see is his resistance before he presses his snout into Hiccup's hand. Hiccup can feel the dragon's entire body slump beneath him, like letting out a breath held in too long. "What's wrong?" he murmurs, scratching under Toothless' chin and stroking his cheek. "Huh? What's wrong? You can tell me."

"Toothless weak…"

"What?" The very idea is ludicrous. But Toothless whines, and Hiccup can see how distressed he is, so he tones down his speech. "I don't think you're weak, bud. Whatever you tell me. I'll never think that. Tell me? Huh, Toothless?" He drops his voice lower and caresses Toothless' face, looking him in the eyes so there's only the two of them. "C'mon, bud."

Toothless whines again. "Weak… should be strong. Without Hiccup…"

Hiccup strokes Toothless' snout. "Without me, what, bud?" Has the tail been giving Toothless trouble? That's nothing to be ashamed of, it was Hiccup's fault in the first place that Toothless even needed the prosthetic tail, and…

"Without Hiccup… Toothless not-want eat," Toothless confesses in a whisper.

Hiccup's mouth falls open. For a moment he can't speak. "What?"

"Sorry. Weak."

"No, no, no, just… What? Were you sick or…"

Toothless twists his head away. "Stupid."

"Bud." Hiccup gentles his voice. "You can tell me anything, you know that. Why couldn't you eat? What's wrong, Toothless? Whatever it is, we can make it right. If you need something from Berk… herbs or, I don't know…"

But Toothless shakes his head. "Not herbs. Toothless not-eat…" He hesitates, then says in such a rush Hiccup can barely make out the Dragonese, "…not-eat… not-sick. Not-hungry. Not-want eat when… when Hiccup not-here."

Hiccup's heart seems to stop. For a moment, even the organic pulsing of the chamber they're in falls away, and there's nothing but silence and the shame on Toothless' face. He opens his mouth to say 'What?', but then he realizes he heard just fine and making him repeat it would only embarrass Toothless. He knows what it means but he never thought he meant that much to Toothless, well he knew he meant a lot to him but not this much, and… and… "I thought you wanted to be here," is what falls out of Hiccup's mouth. "I… You're…" He shakes his head. "You wanted to live your own life. To be free."

Toothless blinks, like he's not registering what Hiccup's saying. Finally he says, "Free on Berk. Never not-free."

"But… but the Hunters…" Hiccup rubs his hand steadily back and forth on Toothless' velvety stomach, grounding himself. It's warm. It feels like home. "You'd been hunted too long. You needed to be safe."

"Safe with Hiccup." Wide-pupiled green eyes gaze down at Hiccup, making him dizzy. "Know Hiccup protect, always."

It's Hiccup's turn to blink. "But then… why did you come here?"

"Hiccup too long defending dragons. Enough. Too much work. Hiccup not-can live life always defend Toothless. Toothless must…" He growls something Hiccup can't understand, then visibly searches for words. "Humans say… 'pull weight'?"

For a moment, all Hiccup can do is stare. Finally, he finds words. "You… you thought defending dragons was too much for me?" He manages an incredulous headshake. "You thought defending you was too much for me?"

Toothless looks off to the side. "Hiccup must mate, have clutch — Hiccup must live life. Not-waste life defend-dragon."

Hiccup's still staring at Toothless, even turned away as he is. "Wh… Toothless, I…" There's so much wrong with what Toothless has said that he doesn't know where to start. "You're the one who needs to—to be an Alpha, to be the King of Dragons! To live here, with—with your own kind, not hang out with humans who only want to kill you or enslave you…"

Toothless is silent for a long moment. There's a thin whimper in his throat that sounds like a human crying. He makes a grating sound, not quite Dragonese. The sound resolves into words. "Hiccup own-kind."

Tears spring to Hiccup's eyes. "Yeah, yeah I love you too, bud, but…"

"But not-waste life defen—"

"Don't SAY that!" Hiccup snaps. Toothless rears back in alarm. Hiccup struggles out of Toothless' hold so he's kneeling, and manages to scramble to his feet on the soft, living floor of their chamber, using Toothless' shoulders as support. Now he's standing, he's at eye level with Toothless, still on his haunches. "Toothless—your life is my life. I can't…" Oh, Hel, he might as well say it. "I can't live without you. Sure, I can go through the motions, but I'm not," he shakes his head, "alive. What you said… wasting my life?" Hiccup's heart breaks all over again to repeat it. "I don't ever want you to think that. It's—it's every minute I don't spend with you that's wasted."

"But… but Hiccup defend dragons, help dragons… Dragons use humans—"

"You let us fly. I'd say we're the ones who're using you."

Toothless is silent for a long, long moment, pupils narrowing and widening, blinking slowly. He's silent long enough for Hiccup to start feeling dizzy again and sink to the floor, legs crossed. "Hiccup… not-tired defend-dragons?"

Hiccup's mouth falls open. "No." He knows his shock must be showing on his face. "Never. I'm sick and tired of every muttonhead who comes down the pike thinking he can capture and enslave dragons to do his party trick of the week, but… tired of defending you? My – my family?" He hopes his sincerity's showing as much as his shock. "That's just crazy, bud. Never."

"Then…" Toothless' voice is as soft as a dragon's can be. "Then why Hiccup send dragons away?"

Hiccup can't speak.

Slowly, he gets to his knees and shuffles forward on the glowing algae until he's close to Toothless again, almost touching. "Toothless," he whispers, "this," he gestures around them, "is your home."

"Home with Hiccup. Hiccup Toothless-home," Toothless says flatly. "But dragon not-stay where dragon not-wanted."

And Hiccup starts to cry.

He's dimly aware of Toothless gathering him into his embrace, wrapping his wings about him, comforting him, tenderly offering the comforting touches and croons he always does at seeing Hiccup in distress. "No-sad. No-cry. Love Hiccup. Love Hiccup so much."

Hiccup's fingers scrabble for purchase in a saddle that isn't there, finding Toothless' forelegs, clutching at his wings. "I love you too, Toothless." The words seem to break a dam inside him and he sobs, unable to stop saying it. "I love you. I love you. I love you. Gods, I love you so much."

"Why apart?" Toothless sounds so lost that it breaks Hiccup's heart all over again.

"You need to be safe," Hiccup chokes. "All the love in the world won't keep you alive. Not if the Hunters get to you. And there'll always be another Grimmel, there'll always be another Drago… I need you to be safe."

There's a soft purr in Toothless' chest, quickly cut off. "Safe not-mean no-danger," he says slowly. "When dead, no danger. But not-mean safe. Toothless-heart dead. Safe. But dead. Rather be alive in danger than dead and safe."

"No…" Hiccup shakes his head. He knows his own heart was dead too, but he has to be strong. He mustn't say it. "It's—it's not the same as being dead. You're alive. You're safe."

"What-good safe," Toothless says slowly, "and live with heart broken?"

Hiccup's arms find their way around Toothless' neck, wrapping around securely like remembering something familiar and forgotten. "I'd never forgive myself if something happened to you, bud."

Toothless nuzzles closer, his forepaws gathering Hiccup in tight. "Same with Toothless," he purrs. "Toothless leave so Hiccup can-be safe." He nuzzles Hiccup again, scent-marking him. "Not-know Hiccup starve."

"Me neither. I didn't know you'd…" Hiccup makes a sound halfway between a laugh and a sob. "We're a pair of idiots, aren't we?"

"YES!" yell Hookfang, Stormfly, Meatlug, and Barf-and-Belch in unison from far away. Dragon hearing…

"Oh gods," Hiccup groans, but he's smiling.

"Nest stay out of this!" Toothless calls.

"Yes, yes, mighty Alpha. Mighty Alpha need tail in face."

"Shut up, Hookfang." It sounds like Meatlug, but Hiccup can't be sure. He can't help a giggle.

"One thing improved," Toothless says out of the corner of his mouth. "No human to make fun of Toothless."

It's too soon to joke, and there's a pang in Hiccup's heart. Instantly, Toothless is bending to him, pressing his nose to Hiccup's chest, purring. "Sorry. Sorry. Not-true. Toothless like Hiccup make-fun. Toothless love everything about Hiccup."

Hiccup twines his arms about Toothless' head. "I love you, bud. I love you. I love you…"

Toothless is clinging just as tightly. "Love Hiccup. Love Hiccup. Want stay-close. Never let go."

Their problems aren't solved, not all, not entirely. What they'll do in the future isn't certain. But as they sit in each other's arms, rocking and nuzzling, they know that in this moment, everything is possible.