The Rebirth Of A Dragon

Hiccup's Point of View

⸻

The wind slid across my skin like silk soaked in salt and ash.

Berk grew smaller beneath us—just a jagged blot of rock and regret disappearing behind the clouds. I didn't look back.

I'd already buried what little was left of me there.

Luna flew smooth and steady beneath me, her scales warm from the sunlight, wings cutting clean through the northern sky. I felt her contentment in the bond—her satisfaction in how things had played out.

Beside us, Astrid flew high on Stormfly's back, the wind rushing through her golden hair. Her cheeks still glowed faintly pink from what happened earlier—public affection, a few stolen kisses, and of course, the complete psychological dismantling of Stoick in front of the entire village.

It had been a good day.

"Hiccup."

Luna's voice slipped gently into my thoughts.

"Yes, my love?"

"This... marriage. Explain it again."

I blinked. Then smirked.

Of course.

She had sensed Astrid's emotions clearly back in the square—how her breath caught when I spoke about giving us a new name, about marriage. Luna had been quiet then, but now that the wind was open and private, she wanted answers.

"Marriage is... a human ritual," I explained slowly. "A public one. It's how we announce to the world that someone is ours—and that we are theirs. It's commitment. A declaration. A promise."

Luna hummed thoughtfully.

"So... possession?"

"Yes," I said with a small laugh. "But not one-sided. It means you choose to belong to someone, and they to you. In front of others."

"Then I already have that," she said proudly. "But if this 'marriage' lets me show it to the rest of your kind... I want it."

I felt her tail flick slightly midair in excitement.

"Will there be a ritual? A battle?"

"Not quite," I chuckled. "But there's a tradition. Humans wear rings—bands of metal. I'll give one to each of you, when the time comes."

Astrid must've been listening, because I caught a soft emotional flare from her side of the bond. Her cheeks flushed, and she turned her face toward the wind, pretending she hadn't heard.

"You're blushing, love," I teased aloud.

"Shut up," she muttered, but her smile betrayed her.

She glanced back toward the shrinking speck that was Berk, then laughed.

"I still can't believe the look on Stoick's face," she said. "Seeing him fall to his knees like that, clutching his shoulder like a wounded dog—it was perfect."

Her voice was soaked in satisfaction. But there was no cruelty in it—only closure.

"His pride shattered like glass," she added. "I've never enjoyed something so much."

"You're terrifying," Luna purred with approval.

Astrid blushed again, then shot Luna a playful glare.

"But next time," she said, "if you're going to kiss us both like that in front of everyone, give me a little warning first?"

"But you didn't mind," I said, grinning now. "In fact, I think you enjoyed it more than either of us."

"Did not," she lied.

"You did. That was your first time kissing her in dragon form, and you dove into it like you'd been waiting for years."

Astrid turned red again—bright, burning red. The tips of her ears even flushed.

"I have never seen anyone go that crimson," I teased. "Honestly, I think you discovered a new color."

"Stormfly," Astrid growled. "Spine him."

The Nadder chirped with glee and launched a spine in my direction.

I raised one hand and casually slapped it aside, sending it spiraling off into the sea.

"Rude," I muttered, grinning.

Then I turned and leapt from Luna's back midair.

My body shifted instantly—armor vanishing into scale, limbs reshaping with crackling muscle and light.

Wings burst from my back as I flipped in the sky, tail stretching behind me, my Night Fury form glinting in the sun.

"Last one to the cove cooks tonight!" I shouted, voice echoing through the bond. "Winner gets to cuddle with Freya!"

Astrid shouted something that sounded like a curse as Stormfly tucked her wings and dove. Luna shrieked in excitement and rocketed after me.

I twisted through the clouds, the wind a blade against my scales. The sea blurred below us, the cliffside rushing up in the distance.

The cove.

Our real home.

Not the festering rock behind us.

Not the ruin that pretended to be a village.

But this—this secret pocket of sky and stone. Ours.

I banked hard and angled down, talons extended as I shot through the mouth of the cove.

And landed first.

With a triumphant thud, I hit the moss-covered stone and shifted back to human form in one fluid step.

"I win," I called out smugly.

Luna arrived a second later and didn't even slow down. She pounced.

I had just enough time to register her blur of black scale and emerald eyes before she bowled me over, wrapping her wings and tail around me in a purring pile of dragon love.

A heartbeat later, Astrid crashed into us as well.

"Move over!" she laughed, tackling Luna's side and diving into the heap.

Luna yelped playfully and curled tighter, pulling her wings over both of us protectively.

And then—

"Hey!"

A much smaller voice squeaked from nearby.

Little footsteps pattered across the cove floor.

Freya.

She stood just outside the pile, arms crossed like a general overseeing a battlefield.

"You're all late," she said with mock sternness. "I've been assigning where everything goes while you were off flying."

I twisted my head around and sure enough—several dragons were moving crates, packs, and gear into tidy piles along the edge of the cove. Some grumbled, others followed her tiny commands like soldiers in formation.

"She even made Veil carry blankets," Luna whispered proudly through the bond.

The female Changewing materialized beside the pile with a huff, dropping a large roll of pelts beside a stone before vanishing again with a shimmer.

Freya took a few dramatic steps forward, hands on her hips.

"Now that you're back," she declared, "we need to finish sorting everything. After tomorrow, we won't be staying in this gross island anymore!"

"Gross island?" I laughed. "You've been listening to me too much."

"I learn from the best," she said sweetly, before crawling onto the top of the dragon pile and laying across Luna's snout.

Veil slinked out of the shadows once again and leapt onto the pile too, curling around Luna's side and planting herself over my chest like a smug cat.

"Alright, alright," I muttered. "This is no longer a victory pile. This is a suffocation trap."

Luna licked my face.

Astrid kissed my cheek.

Freya threw a bit of moss at my hair.

And I closed my eyes.

Letting it all settle in.

The weight of Stoick's face as he bled on the stone.

The sound of Astrid's voice through the bond.

Luna's kiss in front of everyone.

The truth I gave to her. The name I would one day make for us.

All of it.

Mine.

———————————-____

Hours later.....

It took effort to escape the pile.

Luna didn't help—her wings stayed wrapped around us like a fortress, tail twitching lazily while she pretended not to notice my attempts to wriggle free. Astrid wasn't much better, clinging to my arm like a satisfied predator marking her claim. Freya lay across Luna's snout, giggling every time someone moved beneath her like we were her personal nest.

Only Veil made it worse.

The smug little Changewing was curled over my chest like a coiled shadow, blinking her acid-green eyes at me with supreme satisfaction. She flicked her tail under my chin every time I tried to sit up.

"Alright," I muttered, voice muffled under Luna's wing. "If this is my fate, at least bring food."

"Denied," Astrid whispered, hiding a smile against my neck.

"I like it here," Luna purred through the bond. "Warm. Heavy. Mine."

"You're impossible," I grunted, but I smiled anyway.

Eventually, Freya shifted and climbed off Luna's face, calling for more dragons to bring "supplies" to the flat rock near the back of the cove. With her gone, Luna finally loosened her wings. Astrid rolled off my side, Veil slinked away with her usual fade-into-thin-air trick, and I managed to sit up with a deep breath.

We were free.

For now.

But tomorrow?

No. That wasn't quite right.

Soon, the Green Death would die.

And with it, the last true anchor holding me to this island.

I stood fully and looked toward the edge of the cove. Waves lapped calmly against the rocks below. A breeze stirred through the trees above. For a moment, the world felt... still.

But I wasn't still.

I was thinking.

Planning.

What came after?

Where could I lead my family—my mates, my daughter, my dragons—once that overgrown corpse finally stopped breathing?

"You're thinking about the Green Death," Luna said softly.

"Always," I answered.

"You're not taking it alone."

"I tried to make that argument," I sighed, turning to her. "You weren't convinced."

"Because it was a bad argument," she purred. "You are me. I am you. If you fight, I fight. If it dies... I want a piece."

"You're not wrong."

I smirked.

It wasn't a battle I could win.

Not that I minded.

Having her at my side was more than a tactical advantage—it was right. Natural.

She was mine.

And if the Green Death thought it would face just one of us, it would learn the truth far too late.

But still... once it was dead, what then?

I turned away from the cliffs and began pacing, letting my thoughts unfurl.

We couldn't stay here.

The cove was too exposed. Too well-known now. Berk might not know exactly where it was, but I wouldn't put it past them to search. And when they failed, they'd send others. Raiders. Hunters. Desperate fools looking for vengeance.

We needed a new base.

Somewhere more distant. Isolated.

But also... useful.

Defensible.

A place I could build something real.

And as the possibilities unfurled across my mind, one name floated to the surface like a corpse rising from the deep.

Dragon's Edge.

I didn't say it aloud.

Didn't need to.

The thought sat heavy in my chest as I sorted through everything I remembered.

Dragon's Edge was secluded.

It had cliffs, water access, high points, caves. Resources. And most of all—space.

Room for my flock to grow.

Room for dragons to spread their wings and live, not hide.

Yes... it had problems. I'd have to deal with the hunters. Trade lines. Weather threats.

But all of that could be managed.

Bent.

Broken.

Turned to my advantage.

Compared to Berk, the climate was better. Less cold. More sun. And fewer eyes.

"It's spacious," I murmured aloud. "Useful. And far enough that we can disappear until we're ready."

Astrid, brushing dirt off her armor nearby, tilted her head. "What?"

"Nothing," I said. "Just thinking out loud."

She didn't press.

Good.

There were some things no one needed to know. Not even them.

Not about the other world. The other life. The memories that still burned behind my eyes like fire trapped under skin.

Those thoughts were mine alone.

But the path forward?

That belonged to all of us.

I looked at Luna, who watched me with calm, expectant eyes.

I looked at Astrid, who was trying to braid part of her hair back but kept stealing glances my way.

I looked toward the cove's edge, where Freya had gathered a line of Terrible Terrors and was apparently assigning guard posts.

And I smiled.

Dragon's Edge would do—for now.

But it wouldn't end there.

No... this was just the beginning.

Once we had it secured... once I had gathered more dragons... built my strength... learned every movement of every sky current across the seas...

Then we would expand.

Continent by continent.

Sky by sky.

Until the world knew one truth:

The age of men was fading.

And the age of dragons?

Had already begun.