Chapter Text
They say that when you die, your life flashes before your eyes. Hiccup could finally say for sure that the saying was definitely not a myth. It all comes back to him— the night he shot Toothless down, the morning after when he found him. The days he spent sneaking off after dragon training to train with Toothless. When his dad disowned him and, one battle with the Red Death later, told him how proud he was to have Hiccup as a son.
The day he found his mother, realizing that they were just so alike each other. The few, precious minutes of his family being whole. His father's death. Losing Toothless. Getting Toothless back. Him becoming chief and Toothless becoming King of the Dragons.
The Light Fury, meeting Grimmel, leaving Berk, helping Toothless with his girlfriend, fInding the Hidden World. All leading up to his very unfortunate, but probably overdue death.
The poison from Grimmel's dart was spreading from where the dragon hunter stabbed him during their fall just minutes ago. The Light Fury had swooped in at the last second and flew up with Hiccup, leaving Grimmel to fall to his watery death. But it was too late. The poison was already in his system, and he didn't know how many minutes he had left. Valka held him in her arms, Hiccup's head on her lap as the rest of his body laid down on the soft grass. He could feel Toothless next to him, crooning and sliding his head under Hiccup’s hand. Astrid knelt beside him, assuring and reassuring him that he was gonna be okay. He knew he wasn't. But it was fine.
He didn't think dying was horrible. He's faced death countless times before, but now… now that he was lying down in the arms of it, it didn't seem as terrifying as most people made it out to be. He couldn't imagine dying in a better way than being surrounded by the people you love, knowing you had protected them with all that you had and succeeded. He could take it easy now.
Toothless seemed to know it, too. So when Hiccup closed his eyes, the dragon remained by his best friend's side. Because even in death, Toothless wanted Hiccup to rest without fear or worry. Only peace. Hiccup had protected him, had protected all of them. Now, it was his turn. No matter how Hiccup's death would affect him.
It was time for his rider to rest.
They say that when a soul reincarnates, it was probably because it did something really good in its past life. Unknown was the being responsible for such miraculous rebirths. Or maybe it wasn't a being at all… perhaps, it was just the way of life.
When Hiccup woke up, he didn't know what or how it had happened. He had only remembered that it was… dark. And a bit cold. And then, a light. At first he thought he was entering Valhalla, that he was being led to Odin's great hall of mighty warriors.
But then—
Hiccup gasps as air fills his lungs, and then the next thing he knows, he's sitting up and doubling down with coughs and greedy gasps of air, as if his body had just received an electric shock. He breathed hard until his head spun and his vision grew clear, enough for him to scan his surroundings without squinting too much. He wished it wasn't though. Because what he saw made the hairs on his neck stand on end.
His head fell to the ground he was on. He was back at the cliff edge. But that couldn't be— he remembered laying on the grass, the slow, but effective spread of the poison exploring his bloodstream. He remembered his mother's hands on his face, telling him that he could rest now. He remembered Astrid kneeling to his right, holding back tears as he tried to talk to her, telling her that everything would be okay. That no one would ever hurt them or their dragons anymore. And then he remembered Toothless, crooning at his other side and—
Toothless…
Toothless!
Hiccup's head snapped up so quickly, he thought that he might've cracked something. If he did, he ignored it for now. He had more pressing matters to attend to.
His eyes scan the dark and very empty meadow, finding not a soul or dragon in sight.
Of course… What was he thinking? That Toothless was going to stay after his body decomposed and became one with the grass or something? His best friend had a mate now.. And an entire kingdom to—
A noise from the forest drew Hiccup's attention forward. His eyes fought against the darkness to try and see what was in between the trees and shrubs. And then he saw it— a pair of blue eyes blinking at him from the shadows before it stepped out into the moonlight.
Hiccup moves to grab something, anything, that he could potentially use as a weapon. But when he looks closer at the creature that steps out, a wave of familiarity hits him.
“It's.. It's you!” He gasps at the Light Fury.
And it seems she recognizes him too if the way her eyes widen is anything to go by.
He doesn't have time to roll away before the Light Fury pounces straight at him. At first he thinks he's wrong and that she actually doesn't recognize him, and that she might attack him instead. But then, unexpectedly, she nudges her face at him when she's close enough. Repeatedly, Hiccup notices.
“Ah- Hey! Nice to see you too, I guess, uhm- Woah! And now you're pushing me-”
Hiccup stumbles against her, struggling to stand without his other foot. It seems the Light Fury notices, because in the next second, she's putting her head against Hiccup's side, as if telling him to hold onto her instead. He does, and she starts leading him further into the island.
What she might want with him, he doesn't know. But something else occupies his brain, giving him a semblance of hope. Because if the Light Fury was here, then surely Toothless was too, right?
“Hey, uh.. You wouldn't happen to know where Toothless- or, well, your mate is, would you?” Hiccup asks, but the Light Fury only lets out an impatient noise and continues leading him forward.
So much for communication.
“Well, here I was thinking we made things work out the last time but-” The reply dies on Hiccup's tongue when he realizes where she's leading him. The island held his village, this he knew. But as they trudged further into it, he gradually didn't recognize the things they came across. Ruined buildings of every shape and size scattered across the land, with moss and vines crawling up the stone and wood and roofs caving in on the buildings. At first, he denies it. There was no way this was his village, his Berk, it couldn't be!
And then he sees it.. At what looked like the center of the town his people had built. A statue, overgrown with fauna and cracking at the edges. The Light Fury helps him forward, and with a closer look, he takes in the face he hasn't seen in a very long time. The face of a chief. The face that belonged to a man Hiccup knew well - his father. But something else catches his eye, behind the statue of his father. Limping forward with the Light Fury supporting him, his eyes widen at the sight his gaze lands on. It's another statue, only this one was smaller in height. A statue of a young man with a kind, but steady expression on his face. It was the face of a chief, much like the face on Stoick's statue. But this was different. Because this face, Hiccup realized, was his very own.
There was a memorial plaque on the foot of the stone creation, and Hiccup reads with bated breath:
࿇ ══━━━━✥◈✥━━━━══ ࿇
In Loving Memory of
Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III
Chief of Berk and Great Dragon Master
Died in the great Armada battle of New Berk
“He had the heart of a chief, and the soul of a dragon.”
࿇ ══━━━━✥◈✥━━━━══ ࿇
He would have fallen backwards if it weren't for the Light Fury holding him up. But even if she was, his good leg suddenly felt like the ground beneath it had disappeared.
He was dead. He was dead.
Of course he was, he had felt it on that day on the cliff. He knew, and yet—
“Gods..” He breaths out, taking in the ruined remnants of New Berk. His village. How many years had it been? What happened when he died?
… and how was he back?
He looked down at himself, half-expecting his body to be see-through, or maybe rotting in some places. Did he turn into a Draugr? He felt pretty human right now…could the undead even speak?
The Light Fury squawked impatiently beside him and began nudging him towards another ruined building— the forge, Hiccup realizes when he sees the anvil and hammers scattered around. His chest aches at the thought of Gobber working alone here, but that thought is quickly overtaken with worry when he sees what was inside the forge.
“Toothless!?” He cries out, equally relieved and concerned. He practically scrambles towards his best friend with the Light Fury's help.
He knelt beside the unconscious dragon, who was lying down in a bed of hay, his wings tucked to his side and breathing softly. Hiccup sighed in relief as he settled beside Toothless, and then his hands quickly flew all over the dragon's body to investigate what was wrong. But when his hand settled against Toothless’ chest, his heart (if the undead still had any hearts) sank to his stomach.
There was no beat.
Why wasn't there a beat?
But Toothless was still breathing- It was impossible! It was—
… Unless…
Hiccup looked over to the Light Fury, who was whimpering beside her mate, as if urging him to wake up. Hiccup reached out towards her, but when the Light Fury spotted his advances, she stepped back in alarm.
Of course, Hiccup thought. They didn't really have time to get to know each other before his unfortunate death.
“Sorry- I just.. need to check something. For Toothless. Please?” He said in almost a whisper. A plea. Because if there was anything he and this Light Fury had in common, it was that they both cared for Toothless. The Light Fury seemed to get it eventually, because in a minute or two, she had moved forward. When Hiccup reached out this time, she hesitated, but didn't back away like before.
He pressed his palm up against her chest, right over where her heart should be, and his breathing stopped. She had no beat either.
“Odin help me..” Hiccup muttered as he pulled his hand back. He suddenly didn't like being correct.
All three of then were dead.