I Am Dragonblood: Secret Uncovered {Book Three} (HTTYD Fanfic)

Chapter Sixteen - Goodbye for Now

'Hey, bud,' Hiccup murmured. He knelt down by his Fury friend's head, running his hand over the smooth ebony scales. Toothless snuffled and cracked his eyes open, the green irises like Deathgripper acid in pitch darkness.
    'Whaa-aaa?' He mumbled, raising his head from the grass. 'What happened? Where's Grimmel?'
    'We defeated him. For now.'
    Toothless growled slightly, noticing the crowds of Vikings gathering around. 'For now?'
    Hiccup bowed his head as dazed Dragonbloods wandered to the front of the throng, their hair tangled and clothes grubby from the ship's hold. 'Grimmel is still out there,' he said in humantongue. 'I saw him Shift to a Bewilderbeast.'
    Eret spoke from beside Skullcrusher, his hand on the armoured dragon's side. 'He will be back. If I know that Hunter as well as the next Trapper, then he will return for our dragons, and maybe even us.'
    The Chief pulled himself up by hanging on to Toothless, an idea forming in his mind. It was an idea he did not want to think about and didn't think he'd ever be thinking, but in the circumstances they were in now he could not see many options.
    'Arianwen,' he whispered. She turned to him, her pale skin even paler than usual. 'The Skjult Verden is inaccessible for flightless dragons, right?'
    She nodded, her eyebrows knitting together.
    'Hmm.'
    Toothless looked back at him, concerned curiosity written in eyes. 'What're you planning?'
    Hiccup hesitantly told him what he thought in Dragontongue, the Dragonbloods nearby looking at him in disbelief.
    'You can't be serious,' a Dragonblood with tan Deathsong wings said.
    'I am,' he told her. 'I am serious about this.' He raised his voice so the whole crowd could hear, his eyes playing over the faces looking at him. 'I hate to suggest this, but with Grimmel still on the loose I think the best option would be for if... all the dragons go to the Hidden World. It is safe there, protected from Hunters, and has all things they need.' Hiccup held up a hand as the protests started, his right hand still holding onto Toothless. 'I cannot force you to go, dragons. You have to make that decision for yourself. But I urge you to think on the situation, to make the right choice, for yourself and your riders.'
    The dragons shuffled their wings, scales rustling. A few of them sat down by their Vikings stubbornly, while others looked from the Alpha to Hiccup to their riders and back again.
    'It is me Grimmel is after,' Toothless said. 'If anyone should leave, it's me.'
    Hiccup crouched down and held the Night Fury's head, looking into the lime coloured eyes. 'Yes, but... I don't know if I could live without you. I know it's for the best and is the safest option, and I suggested it... But... Oh, Toothy.' He rested his forehead to the Fury's forehead, an escapee tear trickling down his cheek and splashing onto the black scales.
    'As you said,' Toothless murmured. 'It is for the best.' He pulled back reluctantly and looked to the crowds, some dragons saying goodbye to their riders and others standing stonily. 'We leave now,' the Alpha called. 'I know it's sudden, and I'm sorry that we have to do this, but with the Hunter still alive we have to get away to somewhere safe.'
    One by one, dragons moved to the edge of the cliff, their riders watching through tear blurred eyes. About half of Berk's dragon population stood ready to fly, and half of those were riderless.
'Hookfang...' Snotlout said as his Nightmare made his way over to the leaving party, his scaled head low. Barf and Belch went next, their usually high held tails dragging on the ground.
    Hiccup's and Toothless's eyes met, green gaze to green. 'Well, I guess this is goodbye,' Hiccup murmured.
    'Yeah,' Toothless responded. 'I'll miss you. Even with all the times I've crashed into rocks because of you, you useless human.'
    The Chief chuckled sadly. 'Make that Dragonblood, bud.' He hopped forwards and hugged his friend, not wanting to ever let go. 'I'm going to miss you too, Toothless.' Hiccup leaned back and placed his hand on the Fury's snout, his skin mottled with scales. 'I promise that I will find you when it is safe, when we can again live in peace.'
   Tears trickled down his cheeks and he shut his eyes to slow them, feeling the dragon's scales rough on his faintly scaled skin. With a sad sigh Toothless pulled back, the warmth of his hide vanishing with only the afterwarmth remaining.
    When Hiccup opened his eyes again Toothless, with his wearle of dragons in tow, was gliding away to the west, black body silhouetted against the sky.
    'He will return,' Arianwen, who was standing nearby in dragon form, said. 'You two share the strongest bond I have ever seen.' With a flick of her wings she dove off of the cliff and sped after the receding shapes, her white scales blending with cloud until she was no more than a ghost flitting high above.
    With a final look after his friends Hiccup turned and almost fell, forgetting that he had no foot. Astrid caught him before he hit the ground, supporting him as they made their way back to the rising village.

***

Months passed by and more dragons left, first the riderless ones, then the villagers ones, and finally Stormfly and Meatlug departed. Even some of the Dragonbloods decided to go to the Hidden World. New Berk felt empty without the scaled beasts, as if its soul had flown away with them.
    Hiccup stood on the cliff where he had said goodbye to his best friend, his gaze distant. He hardly noticed when Astrid came up beside him, so far away his thoughts had flown. Only when she playfully punched his shoulder did he blink from his reverie.
    'What was that for?' He asked, even though he was used to it by now.
    'That,' she said, walking around to stand in front of him. 'Is for not listening to what your heart is telling you.'
    He sighed, looking at the ground. 'My heart us telling me two different things. It's telling me to go to the Skjult Verden and find Toothless, but it's also telling me to stay here and Chief the village.' He looked up at Astrid, her hair swirling in the breeze. 'I don't know if to bring the dragons back now that we have seen no sign of Grimmel or the Hunters, or to wait until we know for sure that we're safe.'
    'Hiccup,' Astrid clasped his shoulder, making him focus his attention on her. 'Out of what your heart is telling you, which is the strongest?'
    'To go to the Hidden World,' he answered honestly.
She pushed him towards the cliff edge with a determined shove. 'Then go. I'll look after the village while you're gone. You need time to be with the dragons, where your soul belongs.'
    'But I can't just leave! I'm the Chief!'
    'Yeah, you can. I can rope Valka and Gobber in to help, so don't worry.'
    'But-!' He protested.
Astrid took her axe from its sheath on her back, pointing it at him. 'Go. Before I poke you off with this.'
    'Fine.' He really didn't want to be on the receiving end of an axe held by a Hofferson. 'Just make sure the twins don't blow the island up.' He leapt off of the high cliff and Shifted to his dragon form, spreading his healed wings wide. With a joyous roar Hiccup flew up into the cloud and sped west, cold air battering his warm scales and the feeling of freedom coursing through his veins.
The Kløft av Tåke came into view all too soon, the hours it'd taken to fly there passing like only a handful of minutes. Hiccup swooped down excitedly and dove into the chasm, half closing his eyes against the salty spray. He looked around at the glowing rocks, remembering the first time he'd been down here with the gang. They'd flown through a cloud of fireworms at around about the place he was now, orange glow lighting the dragons scales a multitude of colours.
    But there were no fireworms, not a single one was fluttering around. In fact, now that he looked around, there were no dragons at all. He felt certain that he should've seen at least a Gronckle by now, of maybe a Nadder atop a pillar of rock, but the whole place was silent of wingbeats save his own.
    Concerned now, he wove through the pillars until he came to the tunnel leading to the Crystal. Unusually it was unguarded, no Eruptodon blocking his way through. With a couple of flaps he was through and gliding up, his muscles tense.
    And what he saw below him filled every ounce of him with dread.

1484 words.