Hi there! I haven't written for this fandom in such a LONG time, which is odd considering it is my all time favorite.
I hope you like this little fic set prior to the epilogue in which Hiccup, Astrid, and the kids get to meet Toothless, the Light Fury, and the Night Lights. Please let me know what you think!

According to the big kids, if you looked hard enough, you could find dragon scales on Berk.

Almost all of the kids who were old enough to remember the dragons had at least one scale tucked away somewhere special for safekeeping. Zephyr had been lucky enough to have been granted permission to see a few of them. Her grandmother told her she suspected there were more scales on Old Berk, but no one had been there in a very long time.

Zephyr had been looking for one since she was three, combing through the tall grasses and overturning stones and logs, but she had always come up empty handed. Until, she found one.

A glimmer caught her eye as she was making her way to her friend's house and she went to investigate. Near the edge of the forest in a small grassy patch lay a single, shiny scale. Zephyr picked it up carefully. It was smaller than her palm, smooth, and as dark as night.

Zephyr gasped as she realized what she was holding in her hand. She had heard of a black dragon, her father talked about him a lot. His name was Toothless, he was the only Night Fury, he was all black and had bright green eyes and he was her daddy's best friend. He had a mate now, Zephyr knew. She was a Light Fury. Her father had drawings of the dragons, all of them, but a drawing of Toothless was tacked up above her father's desk. And Zephyr loved to look at it.

Could it be that the lonely scale was shed by the sweet, brave dragon her dad loved so much? The dragon that had changed the history of Vikings and dragons forever? Maybe it was.

Her father hadn't seen the dragon in years, not since before she was born. She knew he missed him. Sometimes when he talked about Toothless, he got a sort of far away look on his face, with a sad sort of smile. Sometimes it even looked like he was going to cry. Her mother usually took notice of that, often giving him a hug or taking his hand. She had a dragon she loved too named Stormfly. Zephyr wished she could have met them.

Zephyr folded her hand carefully around her treasure and turned around. She knew exactly what she needed to do.

Zephyr walked as quietly as she could into the study. Her father was writing something, occasionally glancing at a book, mumbling to himself. He was a busy man, but always made it a point to spend time with Zephyr and her little brother and her mom. Zephyr loved him with all her heart.

Quietly, as to not startle her father very much, the five year old spoke up. "Daddy?"

He looked up from his paper and over to her. He looked a little tired, but his face lit up when he saw her. "Hi Zeph! I haven't seen you much today."

Zephyr smiled a little and walked closer to him. It had been pleasantly warm the last few days and Zephyr had taken the opportunity to play outside as much as possible. It had been a suffocatingly long winter. Nuffink was with their mother and nana, presumably, and seeing as Zephyr was old enough and responsible enough to not be constantly supervised, she often went out on her own.

"I found something for you," she said.

"You did?" he questioned, putting down his pencil.

She nodded. "Hold out your hand,"

He smiled and extended his hand and she carefully pressed the scale into it.

He looked down at it and then back to her. "It's a dragon scale," Zephyr explained.

"You've been looking for one for a long time, huh?" he asked her, smiling. He shifted it forward into his fingers and held it up closer to his face.

"Uh-huh, I found it in the grass by the forest. It's black. I-I figured it might be from…"

A look of realization crossed his face and he looked back to the scale. "Toothless…" he breathed.

"Is it really his, Daddy?"

"I… think so, Zeph. I'm surprised it's… just been sitting around all this time and no one's seen it before." He turned it over in his fingers a few time and smiled nostalgically. "It's been a while."

Zephyr smiled.

Hiccup took Zephyr's hand and gave the scale back to her. "Thanks for letting me see that, Bitsy." Zephyr had been a small baby. Most of her nicknames had some reference to her being little.

"I want you to keep it."

"Thank you, but you found it. You've been looking for one for such a long time and-"

"Toothless was your best friend, Daddy. I think you should have it."

Hiccup smiled. He placed the scale on a shelf, next to a notebook that held drawings, inventions, maps, and a blueprint for Toothless' tail, and then he pulled Zephyr into his lap. "Thank you, Zephyr. That means a lot to me. I put it up there, with some of my favorite things I've collected over the years so I can keep it forever."

"That's a good idea," Zephyr replied.

Hiccup kissed the little girl on the top of her head and hugged her. She leaned against him for a few minutes and they sat in contended silence together for a few minutes.

It was Hiccup who broke that silence. "Why don't you and I go play, huh?"

"Don't you have to work?" Zephyr asked, with a slight scrunch of her nose that reminded Hiccup very much of his wife.

"Work can wait," Hiccup said, before tapping her scrunched up little one with his index finger.

Zephyr smiled and jumped off his lap. He stood and she tugged on his hand as she bounded outside, he had no choice but to follow after her, not that he was complaining.

"Bet you can't beat me to the top of the hill," Hiccup said mischievously.

"Bet I can!" Zephyr yelled before sprinting off, auburn braid swinging behind her.

"Hey you!" Hiccup called after her, laughing. "That's cheating! You got a head start!"

He reached the top of hill seconds after his giggling daughter and he scooped her up from behind and lifted her into the air.

Zephyr squealed in delight before dissolving into another fit of giggles. From their point on the top of the hill, they over looked the ocean. The sun sparkled on the gentle waves as a breeze blew.

"I'm flying!" Zephyr called happily, cheeks flushed pink from exercise and happiness and blue eyes sparkling. "Just like a dragon!"

Hiccup laughed. "You sure are,"

His daughter, nor his son, would ever know the companionship of a dragon and never feel the rush of joy from speeding through the skies on the back of one. It was sad in a way, but there were many sources of joy in life, as Hiccup had come to learn, those you love the most being the main ones.

And if playing with his daughter gave her so much joy that it filled his heart too, he would gladly do his life all over again just to reach the point he was at now. He would always miss Toothless, but it was hard to be sad when he had a whole new life to live with his wife and children, his life's greatest treasures.

And he was loving every minute of it.