This is a companion one-shot to my other one-shot named "Nuffink and the Night-Light", it was only fair for her to get a one-shot like this! This one takes place a few weeks after Nuffink's tale.
This is an AU where the dragons didn't leave Berk after Grimmel's defeat. Zephyr would be around 4-5, Nuffink is 1 and the Night-Lights were born a few weeks earlier.
Summary: AU-Dragons didn't leave Berk. Zephyr was walking down the village when she found herself a new friend and this Night-Light wasn't willing to let the girl get away without playing with him. This follows my one-shot "Nuffink and the Night-Light".
FUN FACT: Today, March 26this the anniversary of HTTYD, since its first release was on that day in 2010! So I needed to celebrate my favorite movie by posting something, hehehe
Zephyr and the Night-Light
Nuffink banged his tiny hands on the table, for him it was only a play, but Zephyr was tired of it. The little boy just wouldn't stop!
"Mommy! Make him stop!"
"Zef, I know it's annoying, but that's what babies do. At least he's eating and not crying anymore..." Astrid replied as she put a spoon of soup in Nuffink's mouth. Indeed, he wasn't crying, but now he was so full of energy, wiggling around and making noises; his big sister has had enough.
"I can't take it anymore... Where's daddy?"
"Some Vikings were having arguments and he went with them to try to stop them..."She sighed. She knew how boring her husband's task was, but she was getting fed up with her son's cries for the moment. "Maybe next time I'll go instead..."
"Mommy... Can I go outside?"
"You know you're too young to play outside alone."
"Please, mommy! I won't go far, I promise."
"Zef..." Her voice trailed off at the same time Nuffink started getting even more active.
"Letme go to Grandma's house, please..."
"Alright... But you're not going alone." Astrid stood up and walked Zephyr to the door; with a whistle, she called Stormfly. The dragon landed right in front of them. "Now, Zephyr, pay attention, don't wander off, go to grandma's house and if she's not there, you come straight back here, do you understand?"
"Yes, mommy..."
"And don't even think in flying alone. You're not old enough, so don't try to mount Stormfly." Then she turned to the dragon and petted her blue scales. "Now, old friend, take care of her, please. Don't let her go to the forest or anywhere else besides Valka's, okay?"
The dragon chirped in reply and as soon as she could, the little girl was sauntering away. Stormfly followed her. Astrid observed them for a while and then returned to finish feeding Nuffink.
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Meanwhile, Zephyr was walking happily to Valka's home, greeting people that passed by. A dark mass flew in front of her – or rather crash-landed –, making her stop in her tracks to look at what was that. The little dragon looked like Toothless, but with white spots and blue eyes.
"You're a Night-Light!" She jumped in joy. "I remember you! You licked my hand!"
The dragon tilted his head curiously, looking at the girl. She knelt on the ground and remembered her father's lessons, extending a hand to the baby dragon. Stormfly chirped behind Zephyr, observing the interaction between the two.
He slowly sniffed her hand and walked further until his snout touched her hand. Zephyr gasped in full enthusiasm. The dragon than warbled equally happy as he jumped on her, his movement was so sudden she lost her balance and fell on her back while laughing and embracing the dragon that licked her face.
"You like me!" She said. "I think you need a name..."
The dragon escaped her embrace and went to the ground, stopping to look at her as if he was waiting for the girl to follow him. Zephyr promptly stood up and ran after him, but she only got a few steps further until Stormfly grabbed and lifted her by the shirt.
"Come on, Stormfly! Let me play with Night-Light!" The tiny dragon growled at the Nadder. "No, don't be mad at her! She not hurting me."
Stormfly slowly put her down. Although Stormfly still didn't let her go too far, both girl and baby dragon played under the watchful eyes of the Nadder.
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Hiccup closed the door behind him and sighed heavily. Astrid was sitting on the ground near Nuffink and looked up to her husband.
"Was it that bad?"
"It's amazing how stubborn Vikings can nag for hours..." He ran a hand through his hair. "They can be way worse than kids... Or dragons on rampage..." He finished with a small smile, half-joking, which made his wife giggle. Then his face became more serious again, his voice became sad. "I don't know how he did it... He made it looks so easy... It was so natural for him..."
"Hiccup..." Her voice was soft as she stood up and walked in his direction.
"Sorry, it's just... I miss him in days like this. I've seen him breaking up some arguments just by glaring at the Vikings." He chuckled at the memory. "He was so imposing... But of course, a man of his size can be a little scary."
"Hum... I don't know, I guess you're as tall as he was... maybe it was the helmet, or the beard..." She shrugged jokingly, knowing that it wasn't was he had meant.
"Very funny..." He grabbed her by the waist to pull her closer. "But you know, I was thinking in growing a beard..."
"I'm not complaining." She kissed him. "By the way, if you prefer, the Chieftainess can break them up next time."
"You're going to break up the Vikings or the fighting?"
"What is the difference?" She laughed and it was his turn to kiss her. "Please, let me go next time, I'm dying for some action... And Nuffink is driving me crazy... He's been crying a lot for every little thing, Zephyr couldn't take it..."
"Where is she, by the way?"
"I let Stormfly take her to your mother's."
"Really?
"Yeah, why?"
"It's just that I've seen mom walking in the village a few minutes ago and she was alone..." He said and Astrid got pale as she widened. Before she could say anything, he continued. "Don't worry, she probably left her with your parents. I'll go check and bring Zef back."
With one last kiss, he left the house.
He quickly walked to the place he's last seen his mother; to his surprise and worry she told him she hasn't seen Zephyr or Stormfly all day. He went after Astrid's parents, only to have his concern grows, as their answer was the same: no sign of Zephyr.
He ran around the village, calling his daughter and asking people if they had seen her lately, trying his best not to look or sound as desperate as he was, it was too soon to startle everyone, yet. He didn't even want to think about calling a search party...
Toothless came in his direction and cooed, moving his head as if he wanted him to follow.
"Not now, Bud... I'm looking for Zef... No one's seen her all day!" He looked around and just when he was about to walk away, Toothless bit on his fur cape, with no teeth so it wouldn't rip apart. Hiccup almost fell when the dragon started pulling him. "Toothless! " He complained and pushed his cape away. "I told you I can't right now, I need to find my daughter!" The dragon warbled, rolling his eyes and moving for Hiccup to follow him again. Realization downed on him. "Wait... You know where she is, don't you?" Toothless cooed happily and Hiccup sighed in relief. "Thank the Gods!"
Since the dragon gestured to his back, Hiccup mounted and the Night Fury flew for about five minutes, going to the edge of the village and the beginning of the forest. Under the trees, Stormfly observed a little girl with three Night-Lights playing around her. Toothless landed by their side and Hiccup jumped off of him.
"Zephyr! I was worried sick! You were supposed to be with your grandma!" He crossed his arms.
"Sorry, daddy..." She stood up. "I was just playing with Nigh-Lights!"
"And you almost gave your daddy a heart attack..." He mumbled and his eyes trailed off to his best friend; Toothless had a smug expression and Hiccup could read 'I just wanted you to know where your daughter has been' on his face. He turned to Zephyr. "Let's go home before your mother gets worried."
"Okay..." She ran to his waiting arms and he grabbed her on his lap. "But can I play with Midnight tomorrow?"
"Midnight?" To answer him, she pointed at the blue-eyed Night-Light. "But we haven't named them, yet."
"But I did!" She smiled proudly. "Mommy was teaching me about the times of the day and so I named them! Midnight." She pointed again and then turned to the white one. "Dawn." And then her finger pointed at the black one with green eyes. "Dusq."
"You mean Dusk."
"Yes, that's it." She giggled. "Sorry."
"Well, I can say you didn't get your naming skills from me..." She tilted her head. "It's because you're good at it. I mean, I named my best friend 'Toothless', after all..." Both chuckled. "Alright, you can play with them tomorrow, but next time, you need to ask for permission or I'll ground you."
"Okay... Sorry, daddy..."
"Now let's go. You need to apologize you your mother..." The girl whined. Hiccup looked at Stormfly. "You're off the babysitting duty now. Thanks for keeping an eye on her." The dragon came closer and he petted her before she took off. "We also need to tell your mom we found the perfect names of the baby Night-Lights."
This made the girl smile.
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Zephyr lied in bed, she couldn't sleep now that she wanted to go back and play with the Night-Lights, though she knew it was too late now.
Astrid was really mad when she found out Zephyr didn't do as she was told and her mother wasn't willing to let her leave the house alone again so soon, but once Astrid calmed down and Hiccup told her the names of the Night-Lights and about her connection with them, the mother's heart melted and she was willing to let them play if an adult was around. A human adult, this time.
So how could Zephyr sleep when all she could think of was the fun she was going to have with her new reptile friends?
She turned around, trying to get comfortable. When she was ready to give up and find her way into her parents bed, a soft coo called her attention. Her new best friend was sitting on the windowsill.
"Midnight!" She sat up and the dragon flew to her. His flying abilities were still shaky, almost like a bee, but he managed to find her room and then go to her bed, nuzzling her. She laughed. "Mommy let me play with you all tomorrow! It will be fun! Maybe my brother Finn can come too, right?"
She lied down, hugging the baby dragon.
When Hiccup and Astrid went to wake her up in the morning, they found Midnight by Zephyr's side, a wing partly covering her as if the dragon wanted to embrace her. His head, resting on the girl's arm and her other hand was close to his paw, like they had been holding hands. Both sound asleep.
Hiccup and Astrid smiled at them.
"You know, I guess the five of them are too much like their fathers..." She rested her head on his shoulder.
"I guess so..." He whispered back. "Now I gotta return the favor and let Toothless know where his son was all night... And maybe when one of them go missing again, instead of worrying, we should go look if they're with each other..." Hiccup kissed the top of her head and left to call his best friend.
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Well, I needed Zephyr's part or it just wouldn't be complete, isn't it? I hope you all enjoyed it! :D
Btw, I know that as a 4-5-year-old Zephyr would probably make a lot of mistakes, but since I'm not really used with kids, so I'm not sure what kinds of mistakes they'd make, so I didn't really put much on her dialog.
In the first part, I didn't put names for the Night-Lights, mainly because I didn't know what to name them, but then I came with the idea of Midnight for Zephyr's dragon (the black one with blue eyes) and then I started thinking of what Nuffink's dragon could be and I think Dawn would be nice. After that, I needed a name for the last Night-Light and Dusk was a natural choice. I liked how the green eyed ones have names related to the sun going up or down and the blue eyed one was the total opposite, being the middle of the night, lol.
If you noticed, in these two shorts, I imagined Zephyr's dragon to be male (and the other black one would be, too) and Nuffink's dragon is female. The gender choice was more to 'shake' things up, since most of the humans and dragons have the same gender, except for Ruffnut and Fishlegs, so I thought it'd be interesting like that.
Don't forget to review on your way out! :D